proceedings: biological society 235 



flowers were found by Mr. O. F. Cook in 1904 in the market of Coban, 

 a town situated in the department of Alta Verapaz, Guatemala. The 

 photograph was unaccompanied by notes as to the uses to which the 

 flowers are applied, but in his journal Mr. Cook states that at Coban 

 the flowers of an Anona were offered for sale both fresh and in the form 

 of dried black petals curled up on the edges and heavily veined inside; 

 and that they had a pleasant spicy odor. He describes the sepals and 

 three outer petals as light green and the three inner thicker petals as 

 pale dull salmon colored, breaking with a bright orange-colored fracture. 

 No specimens of the plant were collected at this time, but on May 30, 

 1906, two years afterward, Mr. Cook collected an Annonaceous plant 

 at Jacaltenango, Guatemala, which he did not associate with the flowers 

 of the Coban market so beautifully photographed by Mr. C. B. Doyle, 

 his assistant. The specimens in the U. S. National Herbarium (sheet 

 no. 57441 1) consisted of young branches with leaves and flowers. It was 

 a simple matter to test the nature of the petals by chewing one of them 

 They proved to be pungently aromatic, suggesting the flavor of nutmeg 

 or perhaps of cubebs. The identity of the xochinacaztli was revealed. 

 From its taste it seemed to have been appropriately placed, as Hernan- 

 dez had placed it, among the spices. 



Cymbopetalum penduliflorum, first described by Dunal, in 1817, from 

 "drawings made by Mocifto and Sesse, without any indication of its aro- 

 matic properties or its common name, is endemic in the forests of north- 

 western Guatemala and southern Mexico. Closely allied to it are two 

 other species Cymbop talum stenophyllum Donnell Smith, and Cymbo- 

 petalum costaricense (Donnell Sm.) Safford. It is not yet known whether 

 the flowers of the latter species are aromatic like those of the species 

 above described. Cymbopetalum. costaricense was described by Captain 

 John Donnell Smith from specimens accompanied by fruit but without 

 flowers as Asimina costaricensis. The fruit, which consists of a cluster 

 of oblong berries, containing a number of seeds, formed from the indi- 

 vidual carpels and radiating from a common receptacle, strongly sug- 

 gests that of our common Asimina triloba, though considerably smaller, 

 and it is not surprising that in the absence of flowers Captain Smith 

 should have placed it in the genus Asimina. Its true generic position 

 was determined by flowering specimens in the National Herbarium 

 (sheet no. 592582) collected by Professor Henri Pittier, accompanied 

 by immature fruit and the characteristic flowers of Cymbopetalum, with 

 their 3 inner ear-shaped petals. Professor Pittier's specimens (ex Herb. 

 H. Pittier no. 13459) were collected by him in July, 1899, on the banks 

 of the Rio Blanco, Santa Clara, Costa Rica, at an elevation of 300 meters. 



Mr. Safford's paper was illustrated with many lantern slides from 

 photographs and drawings of the plants mentioned. 



The third paper was by H. L. Shantz and L. J. Briggs on The wilting 

 coefficient as an aid in the study of plant associations. (See Bull., Bureau 

 Plant Industry No. 230). 



D. E. Lantz, Recording Secretary. 



