Tas. 8540. 
RONDELETIA corpatTa. 
Guatemala. 
RusiackagE. Tribe CONDAMINEEAE. 
Ronpgvetta, Linn.; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. Plant. vol. ii. p. 48. 
Rondeletia cordata, Benth. Pl. Hartweg. p. 85; Hemsl. Biolog. Centr.-Amer. 
vol. ii. p. 18; affinis 2. amoenae, Hemsl., foliis parce pilosis vel glabrescent- 
ibus, inflorescentiis minopere pubescentibus, calycis lobis minoribus differt. 
Frutex 1-2°5 m. altus; rami 2-3-fureati, juniores appresse setoso-pilosi. Fo/ia 
ovata vel elliptico-ovata, subacute acuminata, basi leviter cordata vel 
rotundata, 6-17 em. longa, 3-9 em, lata, integra, chartacea, juniora pras- 
sertim ad nervos parce pilosa, demum fere glabra, ciliata; nervii laterales 
utiinseeus circiter 8, arcuati, utrinque distincti, infra prominentes, 
marginem versus minime conspicui; petioli circiter 3 mm. longi, setnloso- 
pnberuli; stipnlae persistentes, mox reflexae, ovato-lanceolatae, obtuxae 
vel subacutae, 1°3-1°7 cm. longae, basi 0-7-1 cm. latae, coriaceae, ped 
pubescentes. Cymae terminales, corymbosae, multiflorae, usque ad 12 ecm, 
diametro; bracteae ovato-lanceolatae, obtusae vel subacutae, ad 1°2 cm. 
longae et 0°5 cm. latae, coriaceae, extra dense appresse pilosac; bracteolae 
parvae. Flvres tubis corollae purpureo-rubris limbis roseis. Receptuculum 
campanulatum, 1°5 mm. altum, albo-puberulum. Ca/yris dent«s ovati, 
obtusi, 0°5 mm. longi, extra puberuli. Coro//ae tubus cylindricus, circiter 
1 em. longus, extra setuloso-puberulus, intus pilosus, farce flavo-villoso; 
limbns 1°3-1°5 em. expansus; lobi 5 vel 6, oblongi, apice rotundati, 2°5 mm. 
longi, 1°75 wm. lati. Antherve fauce vel medio tubi insertae, 2 mm. longae ; 
filamcnta 1°5 mm. longa, glabra. Discus annularis. glaber. Stylus quam 
tubus duplo brevior vel longior et _exsertus, bilobus, glaber. Capsula 
subglobosa, leviter biloba, 0°5 cm. diametro, setuloso-puberula. Semina 
minuta.—Jogie a cordat1, Planch. in Fl. des Serres, vol. v. sub, t. 442; 
Henfrey in Moore & Ayres Gard. Mag. Bot. 1851, p. 89, cum ic. R. thyrsiflora, 
Hort. ex Henfrey, l.c.—J. HuTcHINsON. 
The Rubiaceous genus Rondeletia includes some seventy 
species, confined to Tropical America and the West Indies, 
and most numerous in Central America and Colombia. The 
one now figured, a native of Guatemala, is an old garden 
plant, first introduced into cultivation in this country in 
1844, and raised from a seedling which appeared in the 
soil adhering to some imported orchids grown by Mr. J. 
Anderson, of Holme, Regent’s Park. It was long known 
in collections as Rogiera cordata, the fact that it is really a 
Rondeletia being obscured because Bentham in his original 
account described the flowers as tetramerous. The mis- 
understanding was adjusted by Planchon. Actually both 
pentamerous and hexamerous flowers occur in the same 
Fepsrvary, 1914. 
