646 — GRIGGS : SPECIES OF HELICONIA 
long, rachis flexuose, deflexed ; lowest fertile bract 7 cm. long, 
2 cm. broad: pedicels 12 mm. long: berries red and yellow, 9 
mm, in diameter in the dry specimen. 
Our plants (0. 757) were larger than Watson’s and the pe- 
duncle is longer; otherwise they are very similar. They were 
growing in deep shady forests at Cherujija Oxec, about fifty miles 
west of the original locality. 
Donnell Smith’s xo. 8079, collected by von Tiirckheim at Cubil- 
quitz, Alta Vera Paz, has a peduncle as long as our plants. From 
this it would seem that Schumann’s distinction (a sessile inflores- 
cence) between H. aurantiaca and H. Choconiana will not hold. 
H. Choconiana is very close to H. aurantiaca, or at least to H. 
brevispatha, which was described as synonymous with it. The 
peduncles of our specimens are as long as those shown in Hook- 
er’s figure and the leaves are similar, but in his species they are 
broader with short petioles, not clasping. The distinction between 
the two should be the floral and foliar characters instead of the 
length of the peduncle. 
meee Pee 
Heliconia crassa sp. nov. 
The habit of this plant may be said to be somewhat interme- 
diate between the typical Stenoch/amys and the rest of the genus. 
The stem elongates between the nodes so that the leaves are borne 
along it, as is the case in the former group ; but the petioles, in- 
stead of diverging at an angle from the stem, continue in nearly 
the same direction, which is characteristic of the other subgenera. 
They have at the summit, however, a sharp bend of nearly 90", 
so as to bring the blades into the same relation to the stem as 18 
usual in Stenochlamys. Such a bend at the summit of the petioles 
was also seen in several species of the other subgenera (only 
among those with erect stems); but its amount was small, in iS 
case more than 30°. When growing in shady places this species 
may attain a height of 2 m., but most of the plants are only about 
half as tall. 
Leaves to 30 cm. long, g cm. broad, lanceolate, at the: tip 
acute, at the base oblique or equilateral, rounded of cordate, 
thick, green, glabrous, and glossy on both sides ; principal nerves 
on the upper surface 5 mm. apart— an unusual distance for se 
small a leaf ; blades sessile or on petioles up to their own length: 
