255 



subtus secus nervos sparse appresse hispida ceterum glabra, 

 6-8 cm. longa, 3-5 cm. lata ; potioli 1-5-2-5 cm. longi, sparse 

 appresse hiepidi. Verticil! astris in spicas simplices vel parce 

 ramosas plus minnsve interruptas pedunculatas l'5-4*5 cm. longas, 

 1 cm. latas aggregati, verticillastris inferioribus 6 mm., superioribus 

 1-2 mm. remotis, pedunculis appresse pubescentibus *5-2 cm. 

 longis ; spicae ad apices ramorum laxe paniculatae ; bract* ;io 

 ovatae vel ovato-lanceolatae, saepe foliaceae, majores 8 mm. 

 longae, 2*5-3 mm. latae. Calyx an gust e campanulatus, 4 mm. 

 longus^ extra parce hispidus, lobis triangulis acutis aequalibus 

 tubo triplo brevioribus. Corolla pallide lilacina, 7 mm. longa, 

 glabra, lobis subaequalibus. Filamenta lilacina, subadscendentia, 

 barbata. Styli rami subaequales, 1*5 mm. longi. Nuculae late 

 ovoideae, glabrae. — P. parviflorus var. hispidus, Benth. in DC. 

 Prodr. xii., p. 152. P. glaber, Hook, f. in Flor. Brit. Ind. iv., 

 p. 633 partim, nee Benth. P. glaber, var. pnbescens, Hook, f . Mss. 

 in Herb. Kew. 



Assam. 



in 



hispidus, Benth. ; flowering spp.) ; Jenkins 346 (fruiting spp.) 

 Khasia Hills; Hooker & Thomson. Jain tea Hills; Jowai, Hooker 

 A Thomson. Burma : Shan States, King's Collectors. 



Readily distinguished from P. glaber by its irregularly-toothed 

 leaf-margins, its larger bracts and its interrupted spikes, and from 

 P. parviflorus by its smaller leaves and much narrower spikes. 

 It approaches P. pubescent, Benth., a Peninsular Indian species, 

 more closely than it does either of the species mentioned, but is 

 readily distinguished by its serrate, not crenate leaf -margins. 



XXXIIL-GUAYULE RUBBER. 



In the Kew Bulletin No. 7, 1907, p. 285, an account was given 

 of the Guayule Rubber industry in Mexico. From the following 

 despatch from His Majesty's Minister, Mexico, which has been 

 received at Kew through the courtesy of the Secretary of State 

 for Foreign Affairs, it would appear that the commercial 

 importance of the Guayule plant will very shortly be a thing of 

 the past. 



His Majesty's Minister, Mexico, to The Secretary 



op State for Foreign Affairs. 



Sir, 



Mexico. 



May 19th, 1908. 



With reference to my Despatch of this Series No. 52 of 

 December 3rd, 190G, and to later Despatches on the subject of 

 «uayule (rubber) in Mexico, I have the honour to report that an 

 ^nierican expert, who has been spending some time in this 

 Republic in an exhaustive study of the Guayule industry has 

 made the following pronouncement, which I hear from other 

 sources is a fairly correct statement :— 



"Based ii po n a conservative estimate there are only about 400,000 

 «>us of guayule now in existence, either standing in its native 

 80 », or at the plants, or on the way to the plants for extraction. 



32551 



B 2 



