161 



NEW PLANTS FKOM THE ANDES. 

 By Edmund Gr. Baker, F.L.S. 



(Plate 29V). 



Among the plants collected by Mr. Edward Whymper in 1880, 

 on the Andes, and recently worked out at the British Museum, was 

 the following new species of Helosis : — 



Helosis Whymperi, n. sp. — Ehizoma deforme globosum 

 lobatum, pedunculi erecti basi involucello annulari donati, capitula 

 sphserica vel elliptica androgyna filis articulatis operta juniora j^- 

 squamis peltatis hexagonis vel pentagonis velata, fl. $ perianthium 

 tubulosum, limbi lobis 3-valvatis, antherae 3, filamentis brevissimis, 

 fl. ? sessiles, ovarium oblongum obtusum compressum, styli 

 2 filiformes, ovulum 1 pendulum. 



Hab. Machachi, eighteen miles south of Quito, Ecuador. 

 Alt. 9800 ft. 



Measurements. Peduncle : length, 1-3 in. ; diameter \ in. 

 Capitula: diameter, 1-lf in. Scales: diameter, \ in. 



These measurements are taken from dried specimens. 



This very distinct species of Helosis differs from the other 

 members of the same genus in its large, tuberculated and con- 

 solidated rhizome resembling Gorynma. The floral structure, how- 

 ever, is that of a Helosis, the perianth of the male flowers having 

 three distinct segments and not being campanulate, and the 

 stamens are divided a short distance below the anthers. In its 

 floral characters then it resembles Helosis, and in its rhizome 

 Corynaa ; it is therefore interesting as forming a connecting link 

 between these two genera. 



The capitula contain both male and female flowers, and are 

 proterogynous ; the female flowers protrude their styles from the 

 dense mass of subjacent articulate threads immediately on the fall 

 of the scales. The male flowers, as just mentioned, have the fila- 

 ments free a short distance below the anthers, and these latter 

 burst introrsely. I am not aware that any species of Helosis have 

 been described since Sir J. D. Hooker's revision of the genus in 

 the ' Transactions of the Linnean Society,' xxii. pp. 55 — 60. This 

 will therefore make the third, the others being H. guyanensis Kich., 

 and H. mexicana Lieb. 



The following list of Fungi may be of interest, since the speci- 

 mens were collected by Mr. Whymper at a great elevation, in an 

 equatorial region. They have been named by Mr. Massee and Mr. 

 Murray : — 



Omphalia umbellifera Fr. In Monte Antisana, Ecuador, 

 13,000 ped. alt. No. 1512 A. 



Agaricus sagatus Fr. Machachi. No. 1320. 



Psilocybe sp. In Monte Antisana, Ecuador, 13,000 ped. alt. 

 No. 1512 A. 



Cantharellus Whymperi, n. sp., Mass. et Murr.— Cinereus, 

 pileo e convexo explanato, carnosulo ; lamellis integris vel dicho- 



Jouenal of Botany. — Vol. 28. [June, 1890.] m 



