198 safford: new genus rolliniopsis 



Rolliniopsis Safford, gen. nov. 



Flowers resembling those of Rollinia, solitary or in clusters of 2 or 3. 

 Calyx gamosepalous, 3-lobed. Corolla gamopetalous, the lobes cor- 

 responding to the outer petals of other Annonaceae produced into 

 three spreading obtuse spurs or compressed rounded wings, the three 

 alternate inner lobes connivent in such a way as to leave only a very 

 small opening above the gyncecium. Stamens minute, numerous, 

 closely crowded on the torus, the connective produced into a thin 

 transverse shield above the pollen sacs, these linear, parallel, and con- 

 tiguous, opening extrorsely by a longitudinal fissure. Carpels several 

 to many, forming a cluster (gyncecium) in the center of the mass of 

 stamens just below the opening of the corolla; ovaries 1-ovuled. Re- 

 ceptacle (torus) at length indurated and bearing a cluster of distinct 

 fruits, these closely crowded but not concrescent nor compressed into 

 prisms or angular pyramids. Fruits small, pyriform or ovoid, contain- 

 ing a single seed surrounded by a thin layer of aromatic pulp (mesocarp), 

 very much as in the genus Guatteria. Seeds pyriform, obovoid, or 

 ovoid, the thin testa somewhat wrinkled by the inclosed ruminate 

 endosperm and marked by a longitudinal line from the small basal 

 hilum to the rounded apex. 



Type species: Rolliniopsis discreta Safford. 



Geographical range: Brazil, from the State of Bahia to Minas 

 Geraes. 



This genus is separated sharply from Guatteria by its 3-winged 

 flowers. From Rollinia 2 it differs chiefly in its fruits, which consist 

 of a cluster of separate, or discrete, carpels instead of a fleshy Annona- 

 like syncarpium. Its relation to Rollinia is very much the same as that 

 of Aberemoa or Duguetia to the genus Annona. The seeds differ from 

 those of a typical Rollinia in their minute hilum; and the fruits, instead 

 of having a sugary, juicy pulp like that of the commercial custard- 

 apples, possess a thin aromatic mesocarp surrounding the seed, very 

 much like that of certain species of Xylopia known in Brazil as "mon- 

 key peppers" and in Panama as "malaguetas," suggesting also the flavor 

 of the Mexican xochinacaztli, or "ear-flower" (Cymbopetalum penduli- 

 florum), whose petals were used by the Aztecs as an ingredient of their 

 chocolate. 



KEY TO THE SPECIES 



Leaf blades oblong-elliptical or oblong-lanceolate. 



Nerves 7 to 9 on each side 1. R. discreta. 



Nerves 9 to 13 on each side 2. R. simiarum. 



2 Prantl, in an analytical key of the section Xylopieae, briefly distinguishes the 

 genus Rollinia as follows: "Kronenb. ilber dem holen Grunde seitlich zusam- 

 mengedrilckt; Fr. verschmolzen." Nat. Pflanzenfam. 3 2 : 35. 1891. 



