GREENMAN. — NEW ANGIOSPERMS FROM MEXICO. 77 



no. 9632 (hb. Gr.), agree in all essential characters with the type of the 

 above species, which was collected in the State of Oaxaca. The speci- 

 mens obtained in Puebla, however, represent a more advanced stage of 

 development, the plants being 3.5 dm. high, and the oldest flowers are 

 reflexed, showing the immature 1 .5 cm. long capsule. 



Hexalectris mexicana. Glabrous and purplish throughout : stems 

 1 to 4.5 dm. high, bearing below 2 to 4 short sheathing bracts, simple 

 and termiuatinir in a racemose inflorescence : floral bracts ovate, 6 to 12 

 mm. long, short-acuminate, acute, one-half to one-third shorter than the 

 ovary : flowers purple, at first erect-ascending, later reflexed ; lateral 

 sepals oblong-lanceolate, 12 to 14 mm. long, 4 to 6 mm. broad, obtuse, 

 somewhat falcate, 5-nerved, upper sepal oblong-lanceolate, 14 to 18 mm. 

 lono-, 4 to 5 mm. broad, obtuse; lateral petals oblong-oblanceolate, 12 to 

 16 mm. long, obtuse and slightly -^blique : labellum obovate in general 

 outline, rather deeply 3-lobed, abruptly narrowed at the base into a dis- 

 tinct claw, 5-nerved from the base, bearing a pair of partially united 

 lamellce on either side opposite the lateral sinus ; lateral lobes obliquely 

 ovate, obtuse ; terminal lobe oblong-cuneate, 10 to 12 mm. long, rounded 

 or retuse at the apex : immature capsule 12 to 16 mm. long, 8 to 10 

 mm. broad. Hexalectris aphylla, Hemsl. Biol. Cent.-Am. Bot. iii. 213 in 

 part, not Bletia aphylla, Xutt. ; Watson, Proc. Am. Acad, xviii, 159, 

 excluding synonym. H. aphyllus, W. J. Robinson, Torreya. iii. 120 in 

 part, as to plant of Schaflfner. — Mexico. State of San Luis Potosi : 

 in mountains near San Miguelito, Shoffner, no. 316 (516?) (hb. Gr.) ; 

 region of San Luis Potosi, altitude 1800-2400 m., Parry 8^ Palmer, no. 

 861 (hb. Gr.). State of Coahuila : Sierra Madre, 6.5 kilometres south 

 of Saltillo, July, 1880, Palmer, no. 2006 (hb. Gr.). State of Chihuahua : 

 canons of Sierra Madre, 5 October, 1887, Pringle, no. 1514 (hb. Gr.). 

 State of Oaxaca : Cerro de Huauclilla, altitude 2500 m., 20 June, 1901, 

 Conzatti 8^ Gonzalez, no. 1255 (hb. Gr.). 



With the exception of the last, all the above cited specimens have been 

 hitherto regarded as identical with Hexalectris aphylla, Eaf., but all the 

 Mexican material thus far examined by the writer proves to be quite 

 distinct from that species. Hexalectris mexicana differs from H. aphylla, 

 Raf., in its somewhat smaller average size, slightly smaller flowers, less 

 consi)icuously nerved parts of the perianth, shorter, smaller and more 

 deeply 3-lobed labellum. The labellum, moreover, in H. 7nexicana hears 

 only 2 to 4 lamellae and these are opposite the lateral sinuses; while 

 in H. aphylla the labellum is 5-(6-)lamellate from below the lateral 

 sinuses, and the median fold is more or less continuous to the apex of 

 the middle lobe. 



