of the numerous students of our flora has met with a tree 
which is so unusually conspicuous /* * 
A study of the type and other material from the Her- 
bario Nacional de Venezuela, kindly sent to me on Joan 
by Dr. Lasser, convinces me that Joannesia insolita must 
be reduced to synonymy under J. princeps. None of the 
several characters pointed out by Pittier as setting Joan- 
nesia insolita apart from J. princeps is of a major cate- 
gory. All are so slight that, in a group such as the 
KHuphorbiaceae, they cannot be accepted as representing 
more than normal variations within a species. This inter- 
pretation would seem to be even more Justified when one 
considers the significant altitudinal and habitat differ- 
ences between the Caracas locality (850 m.) and the nat- 
ural area of Joannesia princeps in the vicinity of Rio de 
Janeiro. Indeed, the Venezuelan material is a rather close 
match for some of the collections of Joannesia princeps. 
Since the type and only tree of Joannesia insolita was 
found growing in an abandoned yard and since no other 
individuals have ever been found in the forests of the 
region, we are probably warranted in assuming that it 
was planted. There should be no difficulty in explaining 
how the tree came to bein Caracas. It is apparent that, 
in the 19th century, living material of Joannesia princeps 
was distributed from Rio de Janeiro to botanical gardens 
in widely separated areas. In the Gray Herbarium, for 
example, there is a specimen of Joannesia princeps col- 
lected in the Calcutta Botanical Garden. Consequently, 
I see no reason why Joannesia princeps could not have 
been introduced into Venezuela. 
[ 26 ] 
