192 ALLAN HANCOCK PACIFIC EXPEDITIONS VOL. 13 



tended by a few short ones, the former longer than the corollas, linear 

 lanceolate, acute, hispid; heads about 40-flowered. The leaves are de- 

 ciduated except for a few young ones subtending the inflorescence, which 

 are 2 to 3 cm long, lanceolate, mostly acuminate, remotely serrulate, 

 cuneate, hispid above and below, 3-nerved from near the base. 



COSTA RICA 



The best work on the fabulously rich flora of Costa Rica is that of 

 Standley (Flora of Costa Rica, Field. Mus. Bot. 18:1-1571. 1937-38). 

 Because of the author's inimitable style, his introductory discussion of 

 the region and its plants is one of the most interesting to be read in any 

 flora. His work has been my guide in preparing the following report on 

 the collections of the Allan Hancock Pacific Expedition of 1939. The 

 expedition visited two peninsular localities which apparently had not 

 been botanized previously. On March 24, the collecting botanist, F. H. 

 Elmore, went ashore at Port Parker, Salinas Bay in northwestern Costa 

 Rica, where he secured 25 numbers with 1-8 duplicates. On March 26 

 he collected 28 numbers with duplicates on the Peninsula de Osa, Golfo 

 de Dulce in southwestern Costa Rica. This gulf is named Golfo de Osa 

 on some maps. Plates 14 and 15 are general views in these collecting 

 localities. 



Both localities are tropical and only 8 to 11 degrees north of the 

 equator. They are, however, rather arid, since the prevailing winds are 

 from the south Caribbean equatorial current and are deprived of most 

 of their precipitable moisture in rising over the central mountains. 

 Throughout the long spring there is little or no rainfall. Both localities 

 are in what is universally known in Central America as the "tierra cali- 

 ente," the warm to hot lowlands under 3000 feet elevation. 



"For half the year, at least, there is less of green than of brown and 

 yellow. In the wet season the general hue of the landscape is not the 

 deep, dreary green of the rain forest, but a livelier green, brightened by 

 abundant sun, more like the vivid green of temperate lands. — The At- 

 lantic forests are evergreen, those of the Pacific, such as they are, mostly 

 deciduous, many of the trees and shrubs being leafless during much of 

 the dry season, and many of the herbs dying if annual, or remaining 

 dormant if perennial." (Standley, 1. c. p. 17) 



In addition to the forests and thickets there are extensive savannas, 

 where arborescent vegetation is scattered and the grassy herbs dominate. 

 In such areas agriculture takes the form of cattle ranching. 



The strand vegetation is not notably different from that found widely 

 along the shores of the Caribbean or from the Mexican Pacific coast. 



