BLAKE—-NEW PLANTS FROM VENEZUELA, 527 
POLYGALACEAE. 
Polygala retifera Blake, sp. nov. 
Suffrutescent, erect, 1 to several-stemmed, simple or branched, 18 to'35 cm. 
high; stem and branches slender, densely pubescent with curved ascending 
hairs but green, a few longer straighter spreading hairs usually intermixed ; 
leaves alternate; petioles pubescent like the stem, about 2 mm. long; blades 
oval or oval-ovate to elliptic, 2 to 4 cm. long, 7 to 26 mm. wide, the upper 
usually narrower and smaller than the lower, acute or the upper sometimes 
obtuse, mucronulate, at base rounded to cuneate, subchartaceous, above deep 
green, incurved-pubescent, in age glabrescent except along nerves and margin, 
beneath slightly paler green, curved-pubescent chiefly along the veins, a few 
spreading hairs sometimes present on costa. the chief veins 4 to 6 pairs, with 
the secondaries and_ tertiaries prominulous-reticulate especially beneath ; 
peduncles terminal and sometimes axillary, 5 to 12 mm. long, pubescent like 
the stem; racemes rather loose, 3 to 6.5 cm. long, pubescent like the stem; 
bracts deciduous, subulate-lanceolate, acuminate, ciliate and sparsely pubescent, 
2 mm. long; pedicels 2 to 3 mm. long, pubescent like the stem; “ flowers dark 
purple, the keel white or yellowish ”; sepals ovate-lanceolate, 4 to 4.2 mm. long, 
acuminate, ciliate and pubescent with curved spreading hairs; wings 
oval-ovate, 8 to 9 mm. long, 4.2 to 5.8 mm, wide, rounded, very short-clawed, 
sparsely spreading-pubescent, more densely so along claw and costa, 7-veined 
and reticulate; upper petals 6.5 mm. long, ciliate at base, sparsely pubescent 
within toward base, the free portion obovate-oblong, emarginulate; keel 7.5 
mm. long, sparsely pubescent outside; upper part of staminal tube and base 
of filaments sparsely pilose ; apex of style short-pubescent between the stigmata ; 
capsule broadly oval, 9 to 10 mm. long, 7.5 to 9 mm. wide, emarginate, at 
base rounded or slightly cordate, short-ciliate and on the sides spreading- 
pubescent with short straight hairs; seeds obovoid, compressed, 4.5 mm. long, 
pilose; aril 1.5 to 1.8 mm. high, 2 to 2.2 mm. long dorsally, with medium- 
sized pilose umbo, the anterior edge vertical, the posterior dorsal horizontal or 
ascending at an angle of 45° or less, the margin irregularly lobed. 
Type in the U. S. National Herbarium, no. 601609, collected on the old road 
from Caracas to La Guayra, Federal District, Venezuela, altitude 1,100 to 
1,700 meters, February 28, 1913, by H. Pittier (no. 5897). 
OTHER SPECIMENS EXAMINED: 
VENEZUELA: Savannas, Lower Catuche wood above Caracas, altitude 1,000 
to 1,200 meters, March 4, 1917, Pitticr 7014. Lower Cotiza, near Cara- 
cas, altitude 800 to 1,290 meters, June, 1918, Pittier 7892. Vicinity of 
Valencia, altitude 400 to 800 meters, December, 1920, Pittier 8645. 
Polygala retifera belongs in the section Hebantha of the subgenus Hebeclada 
next to P. colombica Chod. No material of the latter species has been ex- 
amined, but its description indicates a plant with lanceolate leaves, attenuate 
at each end and not reticulate beneath, and somewhat longer and narrower 
(3.5 to 4.5 cm. long, 10 to 16 mm, wide), and flowers only 6 mm, long. This 
species was described from Otto 573, and its habitat was given as “ Columbiae 
in montibus apricosis apud Caracas,” so that it probably came from near 
the locality of P. retifera, and its name is a misnomer. 
Specimens collected by Rose (no. 21880) at La Begonia, between. Caracas 
and Puerto Cabello, Venezuela, in 1916, and possibly others collected by 
Pittier (no. 7975) at Hacienda de Cura, near San Joaquin, Carabobo, Venezu- 
ela, in 1918, may be referable to P. columbica Chod., but they have the leaves 
distinctly reticulate beneath. 
