July 19, 1921 blake: ichthyothere 301 



BOTANY. — A remarkable new species c/ Ichthyothere.' S. F. Blake, 

 Bureau of Plant Industry. 



The genus Ichthyothere of the Asteraceae is of some economic im- 

 portance among the native tribes of South America, since the bruised 

 leaves and stems, placed in water, possess the property of stupefying 

 fish and rendering them easy to capture. This property is shared 

 with the closely allied genus Clibadium and with many other genera 

 of various families, among which the Fabaceae and Sapindaceae are 

 conspicuous. 



Ichthyothere itself, as at present constituted, contains about a 

 dozen species, all South American. All are low herbs or suffrutes- 

 cent, with the few small whitish discoid heads in close clusters at 

 the tips of the stems. In most species the heads are sessile, but in 

 a few they are distinctly pedicellate. 



While engaged in the preparation of a key to the species, I found 

 in the National Herbarium a specimen from Colombia, doubtfully 

 referred to this genus, and differing from all the species hitherto 

 described in its loosely racemose-panicled heads and climbing habit. 

 Through the courtesy of Dr. F. W. Pennell, the collector, I have 

 had for study the more complete specimen of the same collection 

 in the New York Botanical Garden. Detailed comparison with 

 specimens of Ichthyothere terminalis (Spreng.) Blake, ^ the type of 

 the genus, shows that its differences in habit and inflorescence are 

 not associated with any important difference in technical characters, 

 and, although so distinct in appearance, the plant is best considered 

 a species of Ichthyothere. It may be recognized by figure 1 and by 

 the following description. / 



Ichthyothere scandens Blake, sp. nov. 



Shrubby vine; stems slender, branching, obscurely sordid-pilose with 

 appressed hairs, glabrescent: leaves opposite; petioles slender, sparsely 

 sordid-pubescent, 3 to 10 ram. long: blades ovate or lance ovate, 7 to 11 cm. long, 

 2 to 4.5 cm. wide, falcate-acuminate, at base acute or acuminate, finely 

 serrulate, membranaceous, green on both sides, sparsely sordid-pubescent 

 on the veins, glabrescent, tripli- or quintuplinerved ; panicles axillary and 

 terminal, very loose, dichotomous, obscurely puberulous, 16 cm. long or 

 less; bracts minute, about 1.5 mm. long; heads loosely racemose along the 

 branches, on pedicels about 4 ram. long, cpmpressed, 4.5 rara. high, 5.5 mm. 

 wide in fruit; outer phyllaries 5, subulate-triangular, coriaceous-herbaceous, 



'Received May 31, 1921. 



^Rolandra terminalis Spreng. Syst. Pi. 3: 673. 1826, fide BAKER in Mart. FI. 

 Bras. 6': 154. 1884. Ichthyothere cunabi Mart, in Buchn. Rep. Pharm. 35: 195. 1830. 

 For full synonymy see Baker, loc. cit. 



