414 FIELD COLUMBIAN MUSEUM BOTANY, VOL. i. 



after we have acquired a better knowledge of pistillate forms. It is 

 earnestly to be desired that this phase of the Dioscorea problem be 

 attacked by the only persons who are capable of doing so, /. e. , by in- 

 telligent field workers. Nothing more is necessary than the simple 

 recognition of the fact that Dioscoreas are dioecious, in order that 

 the discovery of a plant in any locality may thereby stimulate the 

 collector to a search in the immediate neighborhood for the opposite 

 sex-form. In this way alone will it ever be possible to bring together 

 requisite material for a complete and satisfactory study. 



The most recent publication on the family is in Engler & Prantl 

 Pflanzenfamilien, Nachtrage zu II. 5, pp. 80 89, where the writer 

 has presented a detailed synopsis of sections in the genus Dioscorea, 

 preliminary to a monograph of the family, which has unfortunately 

 not yet passed the MS. stage. 



HIGINBOTHAMIA* Uline, n. gen. Ovarium capsulaque Dios- 

 corece, ovulis quaternis, seminibus in quolibet loculo ternis 

 quaternisve. Cotyledon obscuro repando-marginata. Ex habitu 

 totae plantae et characteribus florum staminatorum a Dioscorea 

 npn praecipue differt. 



The presence of three and sometimes four fully ripe seeds in 

 each cell of the capsule must at once entitle the plant in ques- 

 tion to a special degree of consideration as a form at once dis- 

 tinct, not only from all Dioscoreas, but from the entire sub-order 

 of Dioscorece, as set apart by Pax in the Pflanzenfamilien II, 5, 

 133. So far as I have been able to discover after a three years 

 study of the family, during which time all the larger collections 

 of European and American herbaria have been examined, not a 

 single specimen has hitherto come to light presenting this char- 

 acter. It seems probable, therefore, that we are dealing, not 

 with some spasmodic or abnormal condition, but with a deep- 

 seated character, which may, as the group becomes better known, 

 be of no little value in the determination of generic lines. Like 

 most other members of the sub-order Dioscorea;, the general habit 

 cuts no figure; for without fruit or flower it could not readily be 

 distinguished from a score of others. The staminate flowers are 

 easily distinguished from all Mexican Dioscorece by the stamen 



*Harlow N. Higinbotham. Esq., whosf interest in the development of botanical research 

 has jfiven a strong impetus toward proper equipment for a representative and critical herbarium in 

 the Botanical Department of the Field Columbian Museum. 



