Britton : Cuban Plants New to Science 61 



Family ORCHIDACEAE 



Vanilla savannarum Britton, sp. nov. 



Climbing on palms ; stem slender, branched, 6 m. long or 

 longer. Leaves ovate to ovate-lanceolate, 6-10 cm. long, 3-5 

 cm. wide, bluntly acute or obtuse at the apex, rounded at the 

 base, many-veined, the petioles about 5 mm. long; peduncles 

 short, 4-8 cm. long, leafy-bracted ; spike 6 cm. long or less, 

 densely several-many-flowered; capsules sub-cylindric, sessile, 

 4-5 cm. long. 



On Copemicia, savannas near Camaguey (Britton & Cozvell 

 13120, type) ; on Copemicia, barren savannas southeast of Hol- 

 guin, Oriente (Shafer 2944) ; on Copemicia, savanna south of 

 Sierra Cubitas, Camaguey (Shafer 1831) ; on palmetto, between 

 La Gloria and Columbia, Camaguey (Shafer 615) ; on palmetto, 

 Jatovieja, Cayo Sabinal, Camaguey (Shafer 1072). 



Family PIPERACEAE 



Peperomia similis Britton, sp. nov. 



Stem rather slender, creeping, sparingly branched, 4 dm. long 

 or longer, about 2 mm. thick, sparingly pubescent in lines of 

 curled hairs. Leaves alternate, firm in texture, orbicular-ovate, 

 3 cm. long or less, glabrous or nearly so, copiously black-dotted, 

 obtuse or acutish at the apex, rounded or subtruncate at the 

 base, inconspicuously 5-nerved, the rather stout petioles 3-8 mm. 

 long ; young spikes terminal, solitary, short -peduncled, about 8 

 cm. long and 2 mm. thick, the bracts rounded. 



On a rock, bank of arroyo, Sierra del Indio, San Diego de los 

 Bahos, Pinar del Rio (Brothers Leon and Charles 4984). 



Peperomia cueroensis Britton, sp. nov. 



Peperomia spathophylla montcvcrdensis C. DC. in Urban, 

 Symb. Ant. 3 : 228. 1902. 



Stems stout, branched, 3 dm. long or less. Leaves thick and 

 firm, elliptic to ovate or obovate, 3-7 cm. long, obtuse or some 

 of them acute at the apex, narrowed or obtuse at the base, faintly 

 3-nerved, loosely pubescent when young, soon glabrous, not 

 black-punctate ; spikes solitary, very long, terminal, about 25 cm. 

 long, 2-2.5 mm - thick ; bracts oval, distant. 



Mountains of Oriente ; type collected on rocks in a ravine, 

 420 m. altitude, near El Cuero, Oriente (Britton & Cowell 

 12761). 



