438 pittieir: origin of chicle 



and other characters indicate such a close relationship that I am con- 

 fident the decision to place the species in this genus will be sup- 

 ported by further study. It seems preferable to introduce a few- 

 slight modifications in the generic definition rather than to create 

 a new division in the already oversplit and somewhat confused order 

 Sapotaceae. 



Achras calcicola Pittier sp. nov. 



A deciduous, laticiferous tree, 15 to 25 meters high, often over i 

 meter in diameter at the base, the trunk usually straight, covered 

 with a 2 cm. thick, rimose bark, the crown reduced, depressed, the 

 branching divaricate; latex white; wood hard, reddish. 



Leaves alternate, petiolate, congested at the end of the branchlets, 

 coriaceous, entirely glabrous; petioles terete, canaliculate, 2 to 3 cm. 

 long; leaf-blades obovate-oblong, cuneate-attenuate at the base, shortly 

 obtuse-acuminate at the apex, 8 to 18 cm. long, 3 to 6 cm. broad, dark 

 green and dull above, pale green beneath, the costa impressed on the 

 upper face, prominent beneath, the primary veins numerous and 

 inconspicuous. 



Flowers numerous, pedicellate, congested at the base of the leaves 

 at the end of the branchlets ; pedicels more or less pubescent, about i 

 cm. long; sepals 6 (3 + 3), ovate or ovate-oblong, attenuate toward 

 the apex, the exterior ones 5 . 5 mm. long, 3.5 to 4 mm. broad, densely 

 fuzzy-pubescent without, the interior ones a little longer and narrower, 

 pubescent at the apex, ciliate on the margin; corolla white, broad 

 campanulate or almost rotate, glabrous, 6-lobulate, the tubular part 

 I mm. long, the lobes ovate-acute, 3.5 to 4 mm. long, imbricate, some- 

 times denticulate on the margin, exappendiculate ; stamens and stami- 

 nodes 6, connate at the base, inserted at the apex of the tube; stamens 

 as long as the corolla lobes, the filaments terete, apiculate, about 2 . 5 

 mm. long, the anthers extrorse, dorsifixed, emarginate at the base, 

 obtuse, about 3 mm. long; staminodes petaloid, ovate, bifid, about 4 

 mm. long, the margin irregularly denticulate; pistil 4.5 to 5 mm. 

 long, the ovary globose-depressed, more or less distinctly sulcate, 9- 

 celled, stiff-hairy; style obtuse, glabrous. Fruit not known. 



Type in the U. S. National Herbarium, no. 678503, collected in 

 flower, in the dry forests on Eocene limestone around Alhajuela, Chagres 

 Valley, Panama, May, 191 1, by H. Pittier (no. 3457). 



This species differs from Achras Zapota h- in the acuminate leaves, 

 the smaller flowers, the broadly open corolla with short tube, the in- 

 sertion, size, and shape of the stamens, and the 9-celled ovary. It 

 shows more affinities with Achras Chicle, just described, but has smaller 

 flowers, the parts of which also differ in shape and size. 



