332 Gleason: Studies on West Indian Vernonieae 



tomentose beneath ; veins elevated below, the lateral ones promi- 

 nent and ascending, the veinlets inconspicuous; petiole 8-13 mm. 

 long; inflorescence broadly pyramidal or hemispheric, about 2 

 dm. wide; rameal leaves elliptic, about 2-6 cm. long, otherwise 

 like the cauline; heads 4-flowered, in clusters of 3-8, on pedicels 

 2-5 mm. long; involucre narrowly campanulate, straw-colored 

 or pale brown, 5-6 mm. high, outer scales short, broadly ovate, 

 obtuse to subacute and apiculate, irregularly arachnoid or tomen- 

 tulose, inner scales deciduous, oblong or ovate-oblong, acute, 

 glabrous, or with minute patches of thin tomentum near the tip; 

 achenes pale brown, 3 mm. long, prominently ribbed, thinly hirsute 

 with ascending hairs; pappus white, 8 mm. long, the outer series 

 much shorter. 



Type, Palmer 139, from San Ramon, Durango, Mexico, de- 

 posited in the Herbarium of the New York Botanical Garden. 



In general habit and shape of leaf, Eremosis ovata most closely 

 resembles Eremosis Steetzii (Sch.-Bip.) Gleason, but is distin- 

 guished at once from this one-flowered species by its four-flowered 

 heads. Its nearest relatives are probably to be found among the 

 three-flowered species, such as Eremosis Palmeri (Rose) Gleason, 

 from which it differs in the broad ovate leaves and dense tomentum. 



The presence regularly of four flowers in each head is a peculiar 

 feature, hitherto unknown in the genus. It is paralleled in a way, 

 however, by the occurrence of two flowers instead of one in the 

 heads of certain specimens of Eremosis tarchonanthifolia (DC.) 

 Gleason. 



University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. 



