JOURNAL 



OF THE 



WASHINGTON ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 



Vol. VI MARCH 19, 1916 No. 6 



BOTANY. — A remarkable new Eysenhardtia from the west coast 

 of Mexico. 1 William E. Safford, Bureau of Plant Industry. 



In a recent paper on Eysenhardtia polystachya 2 the author called 

 attention to the variability of that species and to the consequent 

 difficulty in delimiting the species included in the group to which 

 it belongs. Of those already described Eysenhardtia orthocarpa 

 S. Wats, and E. adenostylis Baill. are held by some authorities 

 to be specifically identical with E. polystachya (Orteg.) Sarg., and 

 E. amorphoides H.B.K. is undoubtedly a synonym of it. So 

 distinct from this group and from Eysenhardtia spmosa Engelm. 

 and its allies is the plant I am about to describe, that it ought 

 to be placed in a section apart from them. Its ten stamens are 

 monadelphous instead of diadelphous, the style is not genicu- 

 late or hooked, the calyx is deeply instead of shallowly and 

 broadly lobed, and it differs conspicuously from hitherto de- 

 scribed species of Eysenhardtia in its spreading, compound, 

 paniculate inflorescence and its very large retuse leaflets. 



A critical study of the entire genus is greatly to be desired. 



Eysenhardtia Olivana Safford, sp. nov. 



A tree, 8 to 10 meters high, glandular-punctate throughout; heart- 

 wood dense and blackish; branches slender and spreading. Leaves 

 alternate, usually odd-pinnate (only those of flowering branches ob- 

 served); rachis 10 to 11 cm. long, grooved above; leaflets 7 or 8 pairs, 



1 Published with the permission of the Secretary of Agriculture. 



2 Eysenhardtia polystachya, the soiirce of the true lignum nephriticum mexi- 

 canum. Journ. Wash. Acad. Sci. 5: 503-517. 1915. 



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