40 CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE NATIONAL HERBARIUM. 
Besides being dehiscent, the legume is always stipitate; but this 
detail is not often apparent in the ovary and is not restricted to the 
genus. 
To summarize, the differential characters of the genus are never 
absolute when taken singly. But the following, taken all or several 
together, describe it with sufficient accuracy. Every one of these 
characters, considered separately, will be found to be shared with 
other more or less nearly related genera, but it is their concurrence 
upon which the genus Lonchocarpus is based. 
These characters are: (1) Legume indehiscent; (2) leaflets ex- 
stipellate; (3) legume stipitate; (4) stamens monadelphous, the base 
of the staminal tube 2-fenestrate, the openings with callous margin; 
(5) ovules 1 to 9; (6) style glabrous or at most sparsely pubescent; 
(7) leaves alternate; leaflets opposite. 
THE AMERICAN SPECIES OF DERRIS. 
The characters above attributed to Lonchocarpus are shared by 
the so-called American species of Derris. These species differ only 
in a very secondary detail of the legume, viz, the greater or less 
development of the vexillar margin, or of both margins. I have 
no hesitation in bringing into the former genus the Costa Rican 
species of Derris described recently by Capt. John Donnell Smith. 
They fit nicely into the classification and, considering the broad 
range of variation in the shape of the legume within the genus, I 
can not but believe that respect for the authority of Bentham, 
which I myself share to a certain extent, is the only argument for 
keeping them apart. The fruits of Derris nicoyensis, D. costaricensis, 
and D. peninsularis do not differ more than does that of Lonchocarpus 
neuroscapha or L. sericeus from that of the typical L. punctatus. 
As to Derris grandifolia I hold it to constitute in itself a well 
characterized genus, hardly closely related to either Lonchocarpus 
or Derris. This will be described in a future publication under a new 
generic name. 
The reasons for transferring the Costa Rican species of Derris hold 
in the same manner in the case of the three South American species 
D. guyanensis, D. negrensis, and D. longifolia. Though the fact that 
they are described as climbing shrubs would hardly exclude them 
from Lonchocarpus, we find that in D. guyanensis the legume has 
a well-defined, narrow wing and the seeds have a characteristic 
shape, while the other details of the plate in the Flora Brasiliensis ! 
remind one of some species of Lonchocarpus, section Paniculati. 
The two other species differ mainly in the short and broad legume. 
1151: pl. 107. 
