34 Brixton: Studies of West Indian plants 



Pilea Cowellii sp. nov. 



Glabrous, perennial, monoecious, about 4 dm. tall; stem 

 becoming more or less grooved and compressed in drying, clothed 

 with numerous, small, elliptic raphides; leaves elliptic to ovate, 

 or the uppermost oblong-obovate, 1-3 cm. long, 0.7-1.1 cm. broad, 

 acute or obtuse at the apex, rounded and more or less cordate at 

 the base, 3-nerved, green and lustrous above, paler beneath, with 

 prominent, scattered, elevated callosites when fresh which become 

 depressed in drying, entire; raphides of the upper surface linear, 

 those of the lower surface punctiform; petioles 1-2 mm. long; 

 inflorescence axillary, 1-2 cm. long, equalling or shorter than the 

 leaves; staminate and pistillate flowers intermixed; staminate 

 flowers: pedicels 0.5 mm. long, perianth glabrous, i mm. long, 

 the lobes triangular-ovate; stamens 4; pistillate flowers short- 

 pedicelled or subsessile. 



Type collected on clifl's, Ensenada de Mora, Oriente {Britton, 

 Cowell &" Shafer izgj'j). 



Ichthyomethia havanensis Britton & Wilson, sp. nov. 



A shrub 2 m. tall, with finely pubescent twigs; leaves odd- 

 pinnate, 1-1.4 dm. long, the petioles, rachis and petiolules velvety- 

 ferruginous when young; leaflets 9-13, elliptic to somewhat ellip- 

 tic-obovate, 2.3-4.5 cm. long, I.3-I-7 cm. broad, acute to rounded 

 and often apiculate at the apex, rounded at base, short-petioluled, 

 densely clothed with short, appressed, silky hairs when young, 

 in age glabrous or nearly so above, finely pubescent and reticulate- 

 veined beneath; calyx campanulate, pubescent with short, 

 appressed brownish hairs; pods broadly 4-winged, puberulent 

 with appressed hairs, 2-3.5 cm. long, 2-2.8 cm. broad, stipitate, 

 the margin more or less undulate; seeds oblong, 5 mm. long, 2.5-3 

 mm. broad. 



Related to 7. piscipida (L.) A. S. Hitchc, but differing in the 

 much smaller and more coarsely reticulate leaflets, and smaller 



fruit. 



Thickets not far from Cojimar, Province of Havana (Brother 

 Leon & Father M. Roca 6194, type); also collected on a hill 

 west of Chorrera, Province of Havana (Brother Leon 5192). 



Castelaria calcicola Britton & Small, sp. nov. 



A much-branched shrub up to 2.5 m. tall, with stout thorns 

 which are branched when well developed, the tAvigs closely fine- 



