96 SUPPLEMENT. 



COZTJMEL ISLAND. 



ENUMERATION OF A SMALL COLLECTION OF PLANTS MADE IN 1885 



BY F. GAUMEE*. 



This island is about twenty-five miles long, and about twelve miles from the coast 

 of Yucatan, and the highest ground is not more than a few hundred feet above the 

 level of the sea. As Mr. Gaumer is a zoologist rather than a botanist, it is uncertain 

 to what extent the present collection represents the vegetation of the island ; but from 

 the nature of the collection generally, it may be assumed that it is a very good sample 

 Of the vegetation, and not a mere selection. An analysis follows the list. The species 

 followed by a W. are found in the West Indies. 



ANONACE^E. 



Asimina insularis, Hemsl. in Hook. Ic. PI. 1. 1514. 

 Foliis floribus coetaneis, floribus solitariis oppositifoliis, petalis subsequalibus sesquipollicaribus 5- 



7-nerviis, carpellis sessilibus, ovulis 6 biseriatis. 

 Arbor 20-pedalis {Gaumer), ramis ultimis gracilibus pubescentibus, apice tantum foliiferis floriferis- 

 que. Folia flores coetanea (juniora tantum visa), breviter petiolata, tenuia, molliter pubescentia, 

 oblongo-elliptica, \^-2\ poll, longa, acuta, basi cuneata vel interdum fere rotundata, venis 

 primariis secondariisque conspicue subtus elevatis. Flores solitarii, oppositifolii, breviter 

 pedunculati ; pedunculi circiter 4 lineas longi, basi 1-bracteati, bractea ovato-oblonga obtusa 

 subtus hirsuta pedunculum aequante ; sepala ovata, vix acuta, circiter 4 lineas longa, extus 

 piloso-hirsuta, longitudinaliter 7-nervia; petala subfequalia, lanceolato-oblonga, obtusa vel 

 subacuta, sesquipollicaria, longitudinaliter 5-7-nervia, nervis dorso prominentibus hirsutis ; 

 anthera numerosa, sessilia, connectivo ultra loculos truncato expanso ; carpella ad 6, sessilia, 

 hirsuta j ovula 6, biseriata. Fructus deest. 

 " Not common " (Gaumer). 



In all particulars except the number of ovules this is very closely allied to the large- 

 flowered Sapranthus nicaraguensis, Seem, [see vol. i. p. 14], which, at the suggestion 

 of Professor Oliver, we here reduce to Asimina, as A. nicaraguensis. Asimina triloba 

 and other North-American congeners differ mainly in having axillary flowers and more 

 numerous ovules. Whether Porcelia, Ruiz and Pavon, should be referred to the same 

 genus we leave undecided; in any case, Adanson's Asimina is the older. Baillon 

 ('Histoire des Plantes,' i. p. 199) unites these genera as a section of JJvaria. Uvaria 

 hahniana, Baill., is probably of this affinity f . 



* This collection was presented to the Kew Herbarium, and Professor D. Oliver determined the whole of 

 the plants as far as he could without much critical research ; but Mr. Hemsley takes the responsibility of 

 describing those believed to be new. 



t Since the above was put in type, Dr. Asa Gray has published (Coulter's Bot. Gaz. 1886, p. 161) a revision 

 of the genus Asimina, in which he takes a very different view of its limits, and retains Sapranthus as an 

 independent genus. 



