182 CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE NATIONAL HERBARIUM. 
neath, the margin slightly revolute, entire; costa and venation prominulous 
above; costa and primary veins prominent beneath, the reticulation pro- 
minulous. Stipules linear, about 1 cm. long, turning black in drying. 
Inflorescences (male) axillary, short (1 to 2 cm, long), the rachis glabrous. 
Bractlets inserted at the base of the pedicels, very small, triangular-acute, 
pilose-ciliate. Pedicels glabrous, 2 to 3 mm. long. Flowers tetramerous, 
orange-yellow. Calyx lobes membranous, ovate, obtuse, about 3 mm. long, 
minutely puberulous without. Corolla about 7 mm. long, the tube 2 mm. long, 
the lobes broadly ovate, rounded at the apex. Staminodes distinct, ovate, 
fleshy, hardly longer than the corolla tube, the margin entire. Stamens 4, 
erect, free, the filaments very short, with a trigonous section. Style (in male 
flowers) rudimentary, plumose-hairy (?). Other details not known. 
Type in the U. 8. National Herbarium, no. 474411, collected in forests around 
Rio Hondo, plains of Santa Clara, Costa Rica, at an altitude of about 100 
meters, male flowers only, May 5, 1903, by O. IF’. Cook and C. B. Doyle (no. 551). 
The only specimen at hand is not in very good condition, but is sufficient 
to show a marked difference from the three other species reported so far from 
Central America. From C. biborrana Orst. and C. mezii Pittier it departs in its 
much larger leaves, and from C. lehmannii Mez in the slender petioles and the 
larger, orange-yellow flowers. Some of the petioles are covered with large, cra- 
teriform glands, which would constitute an excellent distinctive character but 
that their presence on this specimen may be a mere accident. 
Clavija costaricana grows in the rain forests of the Atlantic seaboard; the 
other Costa Rican species is from the less humid forests of Jaris and Monte 
Aguacate, on the Pacific slope. 
Clavija mezii Pittier, sp. nov. 
A small, unramified shrub, 1 to 2 meters high. Younger parts of the stem 
thick, glabrous. 
Leaves coriaceous, pale green, glabrous; petioles stout, 2.5 to 4 em. long, 
angular, flattened on the upper side, thicker at the base; blades obovate-oblong, 
long-attenuate at the base, rounded and abruptly short-acuminate at the apex, 
30 to 55 cm. long, 5 to 15 cm. broad, densely prominulous-reticulate ; costa more 
or less flattened above, prominent on the lower face; primary veins prominu- 
lous, distinctly anastomosed along the thin, entire margin. 
Male inflorescences loose, subnutant, 20 to 25-flowered, the rachis minutely 
pubescent, 10 to 12 cm, long; pedicels clavate, 2.5 to 3 mm. long, minutely 
puberulous, provided a little above the base with a very small, ovate-acuminate 
bractlet. Flowers small (not over 10 mm. in diameter), tetramerous, orange- 
red. Sepals suborbicular, about 2 mm. long and broad, glabrous, sinuate- 
fimbriate. Petals suborbicular or broadly ovate, conchoid, about 4 mm. long 
and broad, entire, connate at the base in a very short tube. Staminodes 4, 
glandlike, distinct, ovoid, alternating with the petals. Staminal tube slender, 
thickening toward the base, about 2 mm. long; anthers 8, connate in an obconi- 
cal disk, this flat and 8-dentate on the upper face. Pistil rudimentary, lageni- 
form. Female flowers not seen. 
Fruit not known. 
Type in the U. 8. National Herbarium, no. 679440, collected in the hilly rain 
forest back of Puerto Obaldia, San Blas Coast, Panama, male flowers, August 
30, 1911, by H. Pittier (no. 4313). Sterile specimens are mounted on sheet 
no. 679441. 
The nearest affinities of this new species seem to be with Clavija engelsii 
Mez and C. rodekiana Mez. From the first it differs in having the flowers 
apparently all tetramerous and in the long petioles; from the latter in the 
smaller flowers and leaves, and the pubescent inflorescences. 
