piper: new leguminosaE 433 



each pedicel with prominent glands at the base; calyx campanulate, 

 2-lipped, the upper lip broad, emarginate, as long as the tube, the lower 

 lip with 3 broad ovate lobes nearly as long as the upper lip, the median 

 lobe smallest; standard orbicular, emarginate, biauriculate at base, 

 short-unguiculate, a narrow thick gland near the middle of the petal; 

 wings spatulate, unguiculate, obtuse and hooded at apex, without 

 median auricle; keel geniculate, unguiculate, blunt at apex, as long as 

 but broader than the wings; stamens diadephous, the vexillar one free; 

 anthers small; style hairy on the inner side; stigma lanceoloid, terminal; 

 pod large, woody, i- or 2-seeded, a small longitudinal ridge on each 

 valve very near the ventral suture, the inner layer of the pod not 

 separating at maturity; seed globose, the narrow linear hilum covered 

 with spongy tissue and extending three-fifth of the circumference. 



In the Englerian classification this plant would fall in the group 

 Papilionatae-Phaseoleae-Phaseolinae. 



Monoplegma sphaerospermum Piper, sp. nov. 



Probably a tall climbing vine; stems woody, terete, thinly strigillose 

 when young; stipules persisting, oblong, acutish, strongly and promi- 

 nently 5-7 nerved, 3-4 mm. long; petioles terete, shorter than the 

 leaflets, sparsely pilose, especially at base; stipels like the stipules but 

 longer and narrower, curved; petiolules fleshy, sparsely pubescent; 

 leaflets very thin, narrowly ovate, conspicuously acuminate, but the 

 acumination often blunt, rounded at base, 3-nerved from the base, 

 reticulate-venose, very sparsely strigillose on both surfaces, 6-10 cm. 

 long; peduncles densely puberulent; racemes 15-30 cm. long in fruit, 

 apparently io-20-flowered; pedicel as long as the calyx; calyx ciliolate; 

 upper calyx lip emarginate, 7 mm. long; lower lip with 3 broadly ovate, 

 obtuse lobes, the lateral ones slightly larger and nearly as long as the 

 upper calyx-lip; corolla (not fully open) 10 mm. long; standard orbicular, 

 notched at apex, short-clawed at base between two narrow basal auricles, 

 a narrow thick swelling near the middle; wings spatulate, obtuse, 

 hooded at apex, without a lobe in the middle; keel as long as the wings, 

 blunt at apex, sharply genticulate in the middle; mature pods oblong, 

 woody, each valve with a single longitudinal ridge very close to the 

 ventral suture, the dorsal suture prominent and acute, glabrous but 

 at first strigillose, 5-9 cm. long, 3-4 cm. broad, tipped with a straight 

 beak, 6 mm. long; seeds usually 2 in each pod, nearly spherical, 

 black, somewhat shiny, the longest diameter 2 cm.; hilum narrowly 

 linear, white, somewhat spongy, extending three-fifths of the circum- 

 ference. 



Type in the U. S. Natioxial Herbarium, no. 577,636, collected in 

 thickets at Las Vueltas, Tucurrique, Costa Rica, November, 1898 

 (flowers), and April, 1899 (fruit), by A. Tonduz (no. 12,743). 



Other Specimens Examined: 



Costa Rica: Baru, Pacific slope, January 28, 1898, Pittier 11,958. 



