Britton : Studies of West Indian plan . r ,i;7 



.appreciably woody ; his principal character to distinguish Piper from 

 Peperomia is that Piper consists of shrubs and trees and Peperomia 

 of herbs ; P. peltata should then be excluded from Piper, and as 

 it has distinct habital characteristics, differing widely from any true 

 Pipers or Peperomias, I think it better regarded as a distinct genus 

 under Miquel's name PotomoipJic. Kunth, and also A. Dietrich, 

 allowed it in Peperomia. 



9. THE GENUS STEGNOSPERMA BENTH. 



Stegnosperma was established by Bentham (Bot. Voy. Sulphur 

 17. pi. 12. 1844) with the single species 6". halimifolium Benth. 

 from Cape St. Lucas, Lower California. The next year, A. Richard 

 (Ess. Fl. Cub. 632. 1845) proposed an additional species, S. 

 cnbense A. Rich, from Cuba. Moquin (in DC. Prodr. 13 2 : 36. 

 1849) makes no mention of the Cuban plant, though recording it 

 from Guatemala, but in Bentham and Hooker (Genera Plantarum 

 3 : 86. 1880) the two supposed species are regarded as one, and 

 its range extended to Santo Domingo. 



The range is now extended to Jamaica, where the plant was 

 found by us in the Healthshire Hills, an exceedingly dry region 

 at about 100 meters elevation, south of Spanish Town {Britton & 

 Harris 10322 ; Britton 3062) ; here it is a woody vine 8 m. long, 

 climbing to the tops of low trees ; its reddish fleshy fruits are 3- 

 grooved, borne in short terminal racemes. The Mexican and 

 Central American plant seems to me to be specifically identical 

 with that of the West Indies, as maintained by Bentham and also 

 bv Heimerl in " Die natiirlichen Pflanzenfamilien." 



10. UNDESCRIBED SPECIES FROM JAMAICA 

 Dorstenia jamaicensis Britton, sp. nov. 



Rootstock erect, about 2 cm. long, 5 mm. thick, simple or 

 branched, scarred by leaf-bases. Leaves 5-13; petioles flat, 

 densely short-pubescent, 2-1 1 cm. long, about 1.5 mm. wide, 

 erect or ascending, mostly longer than the blades ; blades ovate 

 to ovate-orbicular, rather firm in texture, 3-4.5 cm. long, 1.5-3.5 

 cm. wide, peltate below the middle, repand-dentate or nearly en- 

 tire, papillose-scabrous above, short-pubescent beneath, especially 

 on the 7-9 veins, which are slightly elevated and rather prominent ; 

 scape pubescent, about 2 cm. long, much shorter than the peti- 



