548 Maxon: ON THE IDENTITY OF CYATHEA MULTIFLORA 
has stated* that the locality is in Nicaragua. There is at hand 
a pinnule from Presl’s type at Prag, and also a pinnule of Levy’s 
468 from Nicaragua, mentioned by Fournier. A close comparison 
of these with the pinnules of C. multiflora from the Banks her- 
barium shows all three collections to be of the same species and, 
curiously enough, to give no indication of the variation in size 
and venation which exists in the more ample material of later 
collections. In all three the veins are almost without exception 
simple, and the pinnules only from 3 to 4 cm. long. Recent speci- 
mens show pinnules up to 7 cm. long and many of the veins to be 
once forked at or beyond the middle. From minute characters, 
nevertheless, it is apparent that all are referable to a single species, 
which naturally must bear the name Hemitelia multiflora. The 
species has since been described from Costa Rican specimens 
as Alsophila decussata Christ. It is doubtful also if Hemitelia 
Hartti Baker,t from Panama, can be maintained as a distinct 
species. Hemitelia obscura Mett.{ is a related species described 
from Colombia, very similar in form, but differing conspicuously 
in having the lower surface of the costae strongly hispid. 
From the whole series at hand, but especially from specimens 
collected recently by the writer in Panama, the following de- 
scription has been drawn: 
HEMITELIA MULTIFLORA (J. E. Smith) R. Br.: Spreng. Syst. Veg. 
4: 126. 1827 
Cyathea multiflora J. E. Smith, Mem. Acad. Tur. BS: 416. 1793. 
Amphicosmia multiflora Gardner, London Journ. Bot. 1: 441. 
1842. 
Hemitelia nigricans Presl, Epim. Bot. 31. 1849. 
Alsophila decussata Christ in Pittier, Prim. F1. Costar. 3:41. 1901. 
Caudex erect, I to 5 meters high, very slender (about 3.5 cm. 
in diameter), usually sheathed by the closely ascending or semiad- 
nate fibrous bases of old fronds, or these slowly deciduous, the 
scars spaced, oblong-elliptic, 4 to 5 cm. long, less than 1.5 cm. 
* Bull. Soc. Bot. France 19: 261. 1872. 
pmite. 
t a 
by Karsten, Fl. Colomb. 2: pl. 197. J. 2.5, 186 
