34 PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY. 



VL — DESCRIPTIONS OF NEW OR LITTLE KNOWN 

 PHANEROGAMS, CHIEFLY FROM OAXACA. 



Discorea composita, Hemsl. Mr. E. W. Nelson has rediscovered 

 this si^ecies at Santa Etigenia, Oaxaca, altitude 500 feet, 18 July, 1895, 

 no. 2828, and also between Topana, Oaxaca, and Tonala, Chiapas, alti- 

 tude 200 to 500 feet, 1 to 3 August, 1895, no. 2855. The specimens 

 from Santa Efigeuia represent the hitherto unknown staminate plant 

 from which the following supplementary characters are derived : foliage 

 and inflorescence of the ^ plant as in 9 : segments of perianth 6, oblong, 

 obtuse ; the inner slightly larger : stamens 6, all perfect, free from each 

 other aud borne upon the base of the periautli-segments, the three opposite 

 the outer segments a little shorter than the others : filaments not notice- 

 ably rigid nor flattened, considerably exceeding the very short anthers : 

 the interior of the flower containing a conical rudimentary ovary. 



Habenaria subauricmata. Glabrous, 5 to 10 inches hiorh: 

 tuberiform root single, ovoid, an inch long : stem flexuous, leafy : leaves 

 ovate, acutish or acute, 3-ribbed, sheathing by the slightly narrowed 

 base, 1 to li^ inches long, a third or half as broad: spike 2 to 6^ inches 

 long, several- many-flowered : bracts ovate-lanceolate, acuminate, about 

 equalling the ovary : flowers green : upper sepals 3-nerved, about 3 lines 

 long, obtusish, the upper broadly ovate, galeate, obtusish, 3-nerved, 3 

 lines long; the lateral ones narrowly ovate, obtusish, slightly exceeding 

 the upper one : lateral petals linear-oblong, obtusish, slightly falcate, 

 subauriculate on the lower side at the base, otherwise entire, 2 to 2i 

 lines long ; labellum deeply 3-parted, the divisions linear, the lateral 

 divaricately spreading and slightly curved upwards, 2\ to 3 lines long, 

 about equalling the middle lobe : spur slender, scarcely clavate, green, 

 about 4 lines long. — Collected by C. G. Pringle, on grassy slopes, Las 

 Sedas, Oaxaca, altitude 6,000 feet, August, 1894, no. 4830. Habit of 

 H. Jlexuosa, Lindh, and H. clypeata. Lindl.. but with lateral petals 

 undivided. 



Spiranthes Oaxacana. Glabrous (except flowers) : root a fas- 

 cicle of numerous thickened tuberiform fibres : stem erect, a foot to a 

 foot and a half high bearing 1 or 2 foliar leaves at the base and loosely 

 sheathed for the rest of its length by membranaceous striate-veiny ovate- 

 acuminate bracts : leaves oblong, 3 inches or more in length, three 

 fourths inch in breadth, sheathing at the narrowed base, scarcely per- 

 sisting until the perfecting of the flowers : flowers in a dense ovate 

 subcapitate spike, slightly exceeding the conspicuous ovate-acuminate 



