244 BLAKE: REVISION OP ICHTHYOMETHIA 



identical witli Jacquin's P. carthagenensis. As I/oefling gives no 

 account of the pubescence of the leaves, it is impossible in the 

 absence of specimens to be certain of the identity of his plant. 



The only South American material of the genus in the herbaria 

 which the writer has examined consists of fruits in the National 

 Herbarium collected at Rio Macara, Ecuador, altitude 455 to 

 610 meters, April, 1910, by C. H. T. Townsend (no. 849), and 

 leaves in the Gray Herbarium collected on Chatham Island, 

 Galdpagos Islands, 1899, by Snodgrass and Heller (no. 503). 

 Both these collections are too imperfect for specific determination. 



Ichthyomethia P. Br. Nat. Hist. Jam. 296. 1756. 

 Piscipula Loefl. It. Hisp. 275. 1758. 

 Piscidia L. Syst. ed. 10. 1155. 1759. 



Trees or shrubs, not climbing; leaves odd-pinnate, the leaflets oppo- 

 site; flowers in lateral panicles, appearing before the leaves; calyx 

 campanulate, obscurely 2 -lipped, the upper lip emarginate, the lower 3- 

 lobed, the teeth deltoid ; flowers rosy or white and red, rarely yellowish 

 white, vexillum suborbicular or oval-obovate, emarginate, short- 

 clawed; wings falcate-oblong, long-clawed, adherent to keel near mid- 

 dle, the Hmb auriculate above at base; keel obtuse, its petals long- 

 clawed, their limbs united near middle for about one-third their length, 

 auriculate-sagittate on upper side at base; stamens 10, the vexillar 

 one free at base for one-quarter to one-half its length, or rarely free 

 throughout; ovary sessile, many-ovulate; style filiform, incurved, 

 glabrous, with a smaU terminal stigma; legume indehiscent, firm, with 

 linear body, broadly or narrowly 2 -winged on each suture, stipitate^ 

 I to 6-seeded, in age tending to break transversely between the seeds. 



Type species, Erythrina piscipula L. 



Key to Species 



Wings as broad as or much broader than the body of the fruit ; leaflets 

 3 to 12 cm. long. 

 Leaves very densely and softly cinereous-tomentulose or pilose be- 

 neath ; vexillum glabrous (so far as known) ; vexillar stamen 

 entirely free (so far as known) . 



Leaves densely tomentulose beneath i. /. grandifolia. 



Leaves densely short-pilose beneath 2. I. mollis. 



Leaves puberulous, strigose, or short-pilose beneath ; vexillum densely 

 pubescent; vexillar stamen free for one-fourth to one-half its 

 length. 

 Leaves puberulous to strigose beneath. 



Leaves densely incurved-puberulous or ascending-puberulous 

 beneath, the hairs more numerous along the veinlets and 

 parallel with them ; stipe of fruit equaling or slightly ex- 

 ceeding the calyx. 



