PITTIER—MIDDLE AMERICAN SPECIES OF LONCHOCARPUS. 49 
HABIT AND ECOLOGY OF THE MIDDLE AMERICAN SPECIES. 
It is unfortunately almost the rule among collectors to limit them- 
selves to sampling, omitting the indispensable complementary notes, 
or, if such notes have been made, they do not appear on the sheets, 
so that the botanist who later studies the specimens is at a loss as to 
the definition of the habit of the plant, This is generally the case 
with reference to the material of Lonchocarpus. We know, however, 
that the Middle American species are trees or rarely erect shrubs, 
some of the first reaching almost portly dimensions, Lonchocarpus 
latifolius and L. salvadorensis are described as large trees; L. pro- 
teranthus and L. lucidus are known to reach a height of 20 meters 
and over, the trunk having a diameter of 35 to 40 cm. at the base. 
The tree of Z. costaricensis from which I took my specimens was low, 
with a rounded crown, but the diameter of the trunk was certainly 
not under 50 cm. A considerable number of species are indicated 
as reaching a height of from 8 to 10 meters, and the number of those 
of which it is definitely stated that they are mere shrubs is rather 
reduced, the mention being mostly ‘‘shrub or small tree.”’ 
It is very probable that the great majority of the species, inhabiting 
as they do xerophytic or semiarid areas, are deciduous. We know 
this positively with reference to costaricensis, chiricanus, megalanthus, 
guatemalensis, and salvadorensis, and there are inferences of the same 
fact for several other species. On the other hand, L. lucidus, as seen 
by myself in the Canal Zone and in the forests along the San Blas 
Coast, seems to be an evergreen, and such is probably the case with 
all species growing in districts with permanent rainfa]J. 
Of the larger species, some grow in the open or parklike formation, 
as for instance salvadorensis and sometimes costaricensis, while 
others are found either in the lightly wooded forests of the Pacific 
seaboard (proteranthus, orotinus, peninsularis) or in the high silva of the 
Atlantic slope (luteomaculatus, lucidus, hondurensis). None of them 
are gregarious, and in the last-mentioned region they grow mostly 
on rich alluvial bottoms. In the Gattin Valley (Panama) in 1914 the 
tops of many trees of L. lucidus were surging in the middle of the 
newly formed lake, most of them being still in full vegetation, but 
apparently powerless to develop their flower buds. 
The smaller species are fond of the rocky, half-denuded slopes of 
the lower hills, or of stony flats and sea beaches, This is principally 
the case with the shrubby species growing along the Pacific coast. 
As to vertical distribution, most species seem to be restricted to the 
lower belt, this extending from sea level to 1,000 or 1,200 meters and 
corresponding more or less to the so-called ‘tierra caliente.”’ 
