ON THE RELATIONSHIP OF THE GENUS AULACOCAR- 

 PUS, WITH DESCRIPTION OF A NEW PANA- 

 MANIAN SPECIES 



By H. PITTIER 



The genus Aulacocarpus, as originally regarded ' by its founder, 

 Dr. O. Berg, included two species, A. Sellowianus Berg, from Brazil, 

 and A. crassifolius (Benth.) Berg, from Colombia. The latter was 

 first described as Campomanesia crassifolia Benth. ,^ upon material 

 collected by the botanists of the Sulphur voyage on Gorgona Island, 

 off the Pacific coast of Colombia, between Buenaventura and Tumaco. 

 The Flora of the British West Indies by Grisebach contains ^ the de- 

 scription of a new species, A. quadrangularis, from Antigua and 

 Guadeloupe Islands ; and subsequently the same author added his A. 

 Wrightii, originally collected in Eastern Cuba.* 



Thus, in 1866 Aulacocarpus had been increased to four species,' 

 but the flower of none of these had ever been described. Taking 

 into consideration the general distribution of the Myrtaceae, it was 

 but logical, in the absence of more complete information, to find a 

 place for this genus among the Myrtoideae, which are widely dis- 

 persed in America. According" to Berg, its affinities were with Cam- 

 pomanesia, a supposition which was strengthened by the original 

 inclusion in this genus of one of the species of Aulacocarpus. On 

 the other hand, Niedenzu, taking as a basis the embryonic characters, 

 places it among the Eugeniinae. 



During his exploration of the forests of Eastern Panama, in 191 1, 

 the writer had the good fortune to discover a new representative of 

 Aulacocarpus in the shape of a medium-sized tree, from which her- 

 barium specimens were obtained, the flowers being preserved in alco- 

 hol. The description of these shows that, contrary to every expecta- 

 tion, Aulacocarpus is not a true Myrtoid, but must be placed among 



^ Linnaea 27 : 345- 1856- Martius, Fl. Bras. 14' : 380. 1857. 

 ' Bot. Voy. Sulphur 97. pi. 37. 1844. 



* Page 239. 



* Cat. PL Cub. 90. 1866. 



'Niedenzu, however, ignores Grisebach's Antillean species (Engl. & Prantl, 

 Pflanzenfam. 3' : 83. iJ 



Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections Vol. 63, No. 4 



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