Brittox : Studies of West Indian plants 345 



Pavonia Cav. has as its type species P. spinifex Cav. After 

 studying quantities of this and of Malache scabra, both in the field 

 and in the herbarium, I am confident that they should not be 

 included in the same genus, inasmuch as they differ too widely in 

 the floral and fruit-structure and in habit ; only the most artificial 

 classification can retain them as congeneric. 



Malache scabra is a typical shrub of coastal swamps from 

 Florida southward through the Caribbean region to Central 

 America, Colombia, Trinidad, and Brazil, and is recorded as grow- 

 ing as far south as Peru on the western side of South America. 



Having seen much of this species along mangrove swamps, 

 nearly or quite always within the tidal influence at high water, I 

 was surprised and interested while exploring the high rocky 

 " Cockpit Country" of Jamaica with Air. William Harris in Sep- 

 tember, 1907, to find a similar plant on hills in wet woods in the 

 vicinity of Troy, reaching altitudes of at least 600 meters. Mr. 

 Harris had collected fruiting specimens of it the year before, and 

 had noticed its resemblance to the coastal shrub ; Professor Urban 

 has recently described it from these specimens [Harris P4S7), as 

 Pavonia racemosa var. troyana (Symb. Ant. 5: 530. 1908). I 

 obtained additional specimens both in flower and fruit in 1907 

 {Britton 515) and from field studies made then in comparison with 

 Malache scabra I am convinced that this "Cockpit Country" 

 plant is specifically distinct, and to be called Malache troyana ; 

 it has broader involucral bracts, much broader and differently 

 shaped carpels, the anther-bearing part of the stamen-column pro- 

 portionately shorter, and the fruiting peduncles are shorter and 

 stouter. The plant is tall and slender and sometimes approaches 

 the form of a small tree up to 4 or 5 meters high. 



New York Botanical Garden. 



