170 CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE NATIONAL HERBARIUM. 
Vitex masoniana Pittier, sp. nov. . Fiaure 96, 
Section Limia. A tree about 25 meters high, with a straight trunk and grayish- 
white bark, longitudinally rimose. Limbs ascending; crown elongate. Young folif- 
erous and floriferous shoots tetragonous and subsulcate, covered with a dense yellow- 
ish-brown pubescence. 
Leaves developed at time of flowering, 5-foliolate. Petioles brownish-puberulous, 
5.5 to 6 cm. long, broadly canaliculate; petiolules brownish-pubescent, 2 to 6 mm. 
long, the exterior ones being shortest and the middle one 
longest; leaflets elliptic-lanceolate, acute at both ends, 
glabrous and almost shiny, with the venation deeply im- 
pressed above, brownish hairy tomentose with the venation 
strongly prominent beneath; margins entire, revolute; middle 
leaflet blade 15 to 20 cm. long, 3.5 to 4. cm. broad; lateral leaf- 
lets 8 to 10 cm. long, 3 cm. broad. 
Cymes paniculate, the rachis densely brownish-pubescent. 
Panicles about 15 cm. long, its branchlets opposite or sub- 
opposite. Peduncles 5 cm. long; middle flower of the termi- 
Fig. 96.—Viter masoniana. nal cymes sessile, or almost so, the pedicels of the lateral 
a, Floral bud, showing flowers 2 to 3 mm. long. Bractlet ovate-lanceolate, obtuse, 
calyx pa ® St! hairy, 2 mm. long. Calyx campanulate, deeply 5- (or 4-) 
toothed, hairy outside, about 3.5 mm. long; teeth acute- 
triangular, 1.5 to 2 mm, long, the intervening sinuses rounded at apex. Corolla lilac- 
colored, densely puberulous outside, except at base of tube, hairy inside at the inser- 
tion of the stamens and barbate at the base of the inferior lobe; tube short (about 3 
mm.) and broad; inferior lobe suborbicular (4 mm. broad, 3.5 mm. long, with a narrow 
claw); lateral lobes shorter, ovate-rounded, the upper lobes smallest, triangular 
and subacute. Stamens exserted, 2 to3 mm. long; filaments thick, long-hairy; anther 
cells ovoid-oblong, diverging. Ovary globose-depressed, hairy; style 4.5 mm. long, 
smooth, shortly bified at tip. 
Berry globose-depressed, puberulous, surrounded by the enlarged calyx. 
Type in the U. 8. National Herbarium, no. 679649, collected in the forests of Gas- 
pasabana, upper Mamoni Valley, above Chepo, Province of Panama, Panama, at an 
altitude of about 200 meters, flowers and fruits, October 6, 1911, by H. Pittier (no. 
4489). 
This species seems to have its nearest affinities with Vitex multiflora Miquel. The 
leaves, however, are 5-foliolate, the calyx distinctly 5-toothed, and the corolla quite 
distinct. Named in honor of Lieut. Col. Chas. F. Mason, chief health officer of the 
Canal Zone. 
Vitex floridula Duchass. & Walp. Ann. Bot. Syst. Walp. 3: 240. 1852. 
A tree of medium size, with a straight trunk, covered with grayish, longitudinally 
rimose bark. Branchlets more or less puberulous at first, later subglabrate. 
Leaves undeveloped at the time of flowering, 3-foliolate with the lateral leafllets 
easily caducous, pubescent and turning black through desiccation when young, quite 
smooth, coriaceous and paler beneath at maturity. Petioles slender, 3 to 4.5 cm, 
long. Middle leaflet much larger than the lateral ones, 5 to 13 cm. long, 3 to 6 cm. 
broad, its petiolule 7 to 13 mm. long, the blade ovate-elliptic, ovate, or obovate, 
subacute at the base, acute, rounded, or emarginate at the tip, the margin entire and 
revolute. Petiolules of the lateral leaflets 4 to 7mm. long, the blades 4 to 7 cm. long, 
2 to 4 cm. broad, elliptic-acute or ovate and more or less rounded at tip. 
Cymes axillary, shorter than the petioles of the mature leaves, 3 or 4 times divided. 
Rachis finely pubescent, Pedicels 1 to3 mm. long, the middle one shortest. Bractlet 
linear, obtuse, 1.5 mm. long, hairy, deciduous. Calyx pubescent outside, smooth 
inside, cupuliform, subtruncate, with 5 irregular teeth, about 3 mm. long. Corolla 
