DIOSCOREACEAE 101 
Hlustrative specimen from near Fort William McKinley, Rizal 
Province, Luzon, October, 1914 (Merrill: Species Blancoanae No. 
154). 
Tacca gaogao Blanco FI. Filip. (1837) 262; 856 (sp. nov.) =TACCA PINNA- 
TIFIDA Forst.; Blanco op. cit. ed. 2 (1845) 182; ed. 3, 1 (1877) 327. 
Blanco was correct in reducing his Tacca gaogao to Tacca 
pinnatifida Forst. The species is widely distributed in the Phil- 
ippines, especially near the seashore, and is locally abundant. 
DIOSCOREACEAE 
DIOSCOREA Linnaeus 
DIOSCOREA DIVARICATA Blanco FI. Filip. (1837) 797 (sp. nov.); ed. 2 
(1845) 550; ed. 3, 3 (1879) 207. 
This species is certainly a valid one, but was erroneously 
reduced by Naves to Diosecorea batatas Dene., a species that 
does not extend to the Philippines. Blanco may have included 
in his description more than one species, as the Tagalog names 
paquit and cobag are applied today not only to the present form 
but. also to D. luzonensis Schauer; however, Blanco’s description 
does not apply to Schauer’s species. The species discussed by 
Blanco following D. divaricata under the native names cobag, 
cobag na quiroy, and cairoui is Dioscorea loheri Prain & Burkill, 
which is commonly known in Rizal Province as quiroi and which 
differs from D. divaricata in the points mentioned by Blanco. 
The specimens of D. divaricata, distributed herewith, were from 
a plant having a spiny main stem, its tubers up to 2 m in length, 
30 to 40 cm in diameter, edible, perpendicular or nearly so, and 
the top of the tuber frequently a meter below the surface of 
the ground, but often less, in all these characters agreeing with 
Blanco’s description. 
‘Tilustrative specimen from Antipolo, Rizal Province, Luzon, 
November, 1914; there known as ubag (Merrill: Species Blanco- 
anae No. 391) (Species Blancoanae No. 117 is Dioscorea luzon- 
ensis Schauer, which, as noted above, may have been included 
by Blanco in his description of Dioscorea divaricata). 
Dioscorea sp. (cobag, cobag na quiroi, cairoui) Blanco Fl. Filip. (1837 )} 798; 
ed. 2 (1845) 550; ed. 3, 3 (1879) 206=DIOSCOREA LOHERI Prain 
& Burkill. 
This form differs from Blanco’s description of Dioscorea 
divaricata in most of the points noted by him; stem with few 
spines, leaves smaller, and tubers smaller. In D. loheri the 
tubers are near the surface of the ground and scarcely more 
