242 CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE NATIONAL HERBARIUM, 
1, Combretum sambuense Pittier, sp. nov. 
A vine, the old bark smooth, grayish, the young branchlets 4-marginate (or 
very narrowly 4-winged). Leaves coriaceous, the petioles thick, flattened and 
marginate above, scaly, 1 cm. long, the blades broadly ovate, broadly rounded 
at the base, acute, obtuse, or subacuminate at the apex, 11 to 15 em. long, 5.5 
to 9.5 ecm. broad, glabrous, reticulate and lustrous above, paler and minutely 
scaly beneath. Panicle branches undivided, scaly-pubescent; flowers purplish 
yellow; calyx narrow at the base, funnel-shaped, coriaceous, minutely scaly- 
pubescent without, villous above the dise within, about 1.5 em. long, the lobes 
rounded, acute, 3.5 to 3.8 mm. long, minutely pubescent within; petals yellow, 
more or less broadly ovate, acute, 2.5 to 4 mm. long, 2 to 2.5 mm. broad, 
glabrous; stamens 8, very long, the filaments erect, about 2.5 cm. long, yellow, 
each with a thick, brushlike tuft of yellowish hairs at the insertion; anthers 
pinkish; dise margin inconspicuous; ovary strongly 4-angled, stipitate. scaly, 
about 4 mm. long; style glabrous, apiculate, longer than the stamens. 
Type in the U. S. National Herbarium, no. 715807, collected along the Sambt 
River, southern Darién, Panama, flowers, February 1, 1912, by H. Pittier (no. 
5548). 
This species is very distinct from any other heretofore reported from Central 
America and the adjacent parts of South America. 
2. Combretum superbum Pittier, sp. nov. 
A climbing vine, the old bark gray, glabrous, the young branchlets 4-angled, 
densely brown-scaly. Leaves coriaceous, the petioles canaliculate, scaly, 1.2 to 
1.5 cm. long, the blades ovate to ovate-elliptic, 
acute and subattenuate at the base, acuminate 
lod 
a” at the apex, 7 to 14 em. long, 8 to 5.5 em. 
" Sef broad, glabrous above, densely brownish-secaly 
/ } SV P beneath. Inflorescences broadly paniculate, 
‘Aout [2S — twice branched, the main branches densely 
LSD - scaly, strongly quadrangular, the spikes oppo- 
. “ site, about 8 cm. long, the rachis brownish- 
Fic. 98.—Perianth of Combre- scaly and pubescent; bracts replaced by nor- 
tum farinosum spread out, the ma} Jeaves subtending both the main branchlets 
stamens cut off. pp, Petals; : . 
d, dise, Scale 2. and the spikes; floral bractlets inconspicuous; 
calyx funnelform-campanulate, 7 mm. _ long, 
coriaceous, yellow, densely brownish-scaly without, villous-tomentose within, 
the lobes triangular, acute, about 2.5 mm. long; petals ovate, acuminulate, 
sulphur-yellow, 1.5 to 1.7 mm. long, 1.1 to 1.3 mm. broad, glabrous; stamens 8, 
the filaments straight, yellow, about 18 mm. long; anthers ovate, purplish; 
disc margin free, long-villous; ovary brown-scaly without, 4-angled, stipitate, 
6 to 8 mm. long; style glabrous, slender, slightly surpassing the stamens. 
Type in the U. 8. National Herbarium, no, 677068, collected around Culebra, 
Canal Zone, Panama, flowers, January 1, 1911, by H. Pittier (no. 2158). 
This species is distinguished from ali the other Central American representa- 
tives of the Micropetalae by its long-petiolate leaves and the form of its 
inflorescence, this composed of several branches, each of which bears 4 or 5 
pairs of opposite spikes. The floral characters also are sufficient to characterize 
C. superbum as a distinct species. 
3. Combretum farinosum H. K. B. Nov. Gen. & Sp. 6: 110. 1823. FIGcure 98. 
A climbing vine, the branchlets few, terete, smooth, whitish gray, glabrous, 
the younger growth grayish-scaly. Leaves subcoriaceous, the petioles semiterete, 
canaliculate, 0.7 to 2 cm. long, grayish-scaly, the blades ovate-oblong, rounded- 
attenuate at the base, obtusely acuminate, 6 to 12 em. long, 4 to 8 em. broad, 
