Britton: Studies of West Indian plants 33 



attenuate, 1-3 cm. long, concave, thinnish, glabrous; scapes 

 stoutish, spirally-twisted, sharply 5-angled, each subtended by an 

 obliquely opened sheath which is as long as the leaves or shorter; 

 heads very dense, ovoid or globose-ovoid, becoming 6-8 mm. long, 

 obtuse, tan-colored; bracts of the involucre ovate to oblong, 1.5-3 

 mm. long, obtuse, glabrous, chartaceous; flowers numerous; bracts 

 subreniform, mostly wider than long, broadly rounded at the apex, 

 scarious, minutely pubescent; sepals of the staminate flowers 

 obovate to cuneate, concave, fully i mm. long, erose at the apex, 

 mostly exceeding the corolla; anthers ovoid, about o.i mm. long; 

 sepals of the pistillate flowers boat-shaped, fully i mm. long, 

 keel-winged and crested on the back, abruptly pointed: petals 

 spatulate, about 1.5 mm. long, often erose at the apex; capsule 

 reniform, about i mm. wide; seeds broadly oval, fully 0.5 mm. 

 long. 



White sand, vicinity of Los Indios {Britton & Wilson 14220). 



Related to Eriocaulon fusiforme, differing in stouter habit, the 

 short and broad heads, and in the broad and rounded bracts. 



58. UNDESCRIBED CUBAN SPECIES 



Dupatya montana sp. nov. 



Stem simple, elongate, stout, densely leafy. Leaves broadly 

 linear, 8-14 cm. long, 6-15 mm. broad at the base, narrowed to 

 the acute apex, rigid, glabrous, striate-nerved ; peduncles erect, 

 15-30 cm. high, often numerous, axillary, loosely pubescent with 

 long, soft, white hairs, or glabrous; sheaths shorter than the 

 leaves, acuminate; heads solitary on the peduncles, hemispheric, 

 7-8 mm. broad; outer involucral bracts ovate, the inner ones 

 broadly oval to orbicular, rigid, acute, glabrous; receptacle pilose, 

 the bracts membranaceous, obovate-cuneate, 1.8-2 mm. long, 

 0.6-0.8 mm. broad, with a tuft of short hairs on the back at the 

 apex; staminate flowers dimerous; sepals spatulate-obovate, 

 about 1.9 mm. long, concave, ciliate at the apex; pistillate flowers 

 dimerous; sepals elliptic, concave; stigmas 2; ovary globose- 

 ovate. 



Collected on compact red iron ore along trail from Rio 

 Yamaniguey to Camp Toa, Oriente, at 400 m. alt. (/. A. 

 Shafer 4473, type); also collected along trail from Camp La 

 Barga to Camp San Benito {Shafer 4104) and at Camp La 

 Gloria, south of Sierra Moa {Shafer 8045, 8251). 



Apparently closely related to Dupatya pungens (Griseb.) 

 Britton {Paepalanthus pungens Griseb.), another Cuban species. 



