Voucher specimens are enumerated as follows: 
COLOMBIA: Comisaria del Putumayo, Paramo de Tambillo, nordeste del 
Valle de Sibundoy, 2700-2800 m. ‘‘Tree. Flowers: sepals red, 
petals yellow. Borrachero de paramo.’’ December 13-14, 
1942. R. E. Schultes et C. E. Smith 3127. 
Comisaria del Putumayo, Paramo de San Antonio, road from 
Pasto to Sibundoy, 9300-9600 feet. ‘‘ Bush, Sepals vermillion, 
petals yellow.’’ March 13, 1953. R. E. Schultes et I. Cabrera 
18898. 
While there is little doubt that the two Colombian collections 
do represent Desfontainia spinosa, what other species and va- 
rieties occur in Colombia is not yet clear. 
The genus Desfontainia and its species have long been enig- 
matic. Desfontainia was described by Ruiz and Pavon in 1794 
and placed in Linnaeus’ Pentandria monogynia (FI. Peru. Chil. 
Prodr. (1794)29). Humboldt and Bonpland suggested that it be- 
longed in the Solanaceae (PI. Aequin. 1(1808)157). Most 
taxonomists of the first half of the past century tended to follow 
this concept. D. Don, however, allocated it to the Gentianaceae 
(Edinb. Phil. Journ. (1831)274). Meisner placed it uncertainly in 
the Aquifoliaceae (Gen. Pl. 1 (1839)252). Endlicher located it at 
the end of the Solanaceae but indirectly (as ‘“Tubiflorae Incertae 
Sedis’’) suggested that it represented a distinct family: Desfon- 
tainiaceae (Gen.PI. 1(1839)669; Enchiridion (1841)336). In 1856, 
Bentham placed it in the Loganiaceae (Journ. Linn. Soc. 
1(1856)97), as did Bentham and Hooker twenty years later (Gen. 
Pl. 2(1876)794). Hutchinson included the genus in the family, 
Potaliaceae, in 1959 (Fam. Fl. Pl., Ed. 2(1959)371; Ed. 
3(1973)460). Leeuwenberg, in his monograph of the genus, has 
maintained it in Loganiaceae, placing it in a distinct tribe Des- 
fontainieae near the Potalieae and Retzieae (Acta Bot. Neéerl. 
18(1969)669-679). Chemotaxonomically, the tendency has been 
to place Desfontainia in the Loganiaceae (Hegnauer, R., 
Chemotaxonomie der Pflanzen 4(1966)414; Gibbs, R.D., 
Chemotaxonomy of Flowering Plants 3(1974)1332). Most 
modern taxonomists appear to have accepted Desfontainia as a 
member of the monotypic family Desfontainiaceae (e.g., Sol- 
ereder in Engler and Prantl Naturl. Pflanzenfam. 4(2)(1895)50; 
Hallier, Medel. Rijksherb. Leiden (1911)28; Pulle, Compen- 
dium... (1950)333; Lawrence, Tax. Vasc. Pl. (1951)667; 
Johnson, Tax. Fl. Pl. (1931)484; Weberbauer, Mund. Veg. 
101 
