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ON A COLLECTION OF BOMAREAJS made by M. E. ANDRE 

 IN NEW GRANADA AND ECUADOR. 



By J. G. Baker, F.R.S. 



It is probably well known to all readers of this Journal who 

 take an interest in the botany of South America that, in 1876, 

 M. Edouard Andre undertook a mission of botanical exploration 

 to Ecuador and New Granada, and that he traversed a large tract 

 of country, and brought home an extensive and valuable herbarium. 

 Two groups of plants to which he specially devoted liis attention 

 were Bromeliacece and Bomareas. He has akeady described, under 

 the name of Sodiroa, the new genus of Bromeliacea; which he dis- 

 covered, and Prof. Morren has in hand the determination of his 

 plants of this order. Of the Bomareas, the slopes of the Andes 

 from Columbia southward to Peru are the head- quarters. He has 

 kindly sent me his complete collection for comparison with 

 Herbert's types, with the expression of a wish that I should give a 

 general catalogue of the collection, and describe the new species 

 which it contains. This. I propose to undertake in the present 

 paper. The specimens are excellent, and accompanied by careful 

 notes made upon the living plants as regards general habit and 

 the colom- of the flowers; and they are often accompanied by 

 sketches of the shape of the petals and sepals, and other dissections 

 which he made when the specimens were fi-esh ; so that in this 

 way aU has been done that could he done to facilitate their 

 determination. As was proposed in my paper on the genera of 

 Amaryllidacea, published in this Journal in 1878 (p. 169), I am 

 treating Wichuraa {CoUania) and Sjjharine, which are kept up as 

 genera by Herbert and Kunth, as mere sections of Bomarea, a 

 view in which Mr. Bentham, who has lately worked out the 

 AmaryllidacecB for ' Genera Plantarum,' coincides. 



Subgenus Wichur^a. 



B. glaiicescens. — Wickurma glaiicescens, Roem. ; Kunth Enum. v. 

 782. — Pichincha, at 4000 metres, and Chimborazo, at 3900 metres, 

 Andre 4121 his ! There appear to be only three well-marked species 

 of this section — glaiicescens, distinguished by small flowers and linear 

 leaves, of which dulcis, puberula, and nutayis are varieties ; and 

 involucrosa and andimarcana, with large flowers and lanceolate 

 leaves, the former with a simple and the latter with a compound 

 umbel. 



Subgenus Sph^rine. 



B. Unifolia. — Sphcerine [^) linifoUa, Kunth Enum. v. 786. — 

 Alstrcemeria Unifolia, H.B.K. — Alto delTabano, Andes of Pasto, alt. 

 3200 metres ; Paramo of Chimbalan, near Pasto, alt. 3000 metres; 

 Azufral, a volcano near the town, of Tuquerres, alt. 3800 metres ; 

 aU in New Granada, Andre 2989! " Erecta ; 30-60 centimet. 

 altii. ; folia glauca ; umbellaB pauciflorae ; perigonii lacinias exteriores 



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