446 Griccs: NEW SPECIES OF AMERICAN WILD BANANAS 
of Agriculture, in the spring of 1903. The types of both are in 
the herbarium of the Department of Agriculture at Washington. 
Bihai reticulata sp. nov. 
Leaf 94 cm. long, 37 cm. broad, petiole and base 70 cm.; 
blade elliptical, acute at the tip, cuneate at the base, thin, glabrous, 
not glaucous, main veins about I cm. apart, finest veins nearly I 
mm. distant, connected by cross-veinlets forming square meshes 
(an unusual character, for the veins of most species are so close 
together as to make the cross-veinlets so short that they are not 
often noticed even under a glass; this feature is strikingly brought 
out by the remarkable coloration of the under surface of the leaf); 
all the veins from the midrib down, including the cross-veinlets, 
bright red contrasting strongly with the body of the leaf and giv- 
ing it a very noticeable screen-like appearance ; inflorescence sessile, 
upright, about 25 cm. long, nearly if not quite glabrous, of 12-15 
bracts ; rachis stiff and straight; bracts close, overlapping at their 
middles, ascending at angles of 45—60°, lowest sterile bract 15 cm. 
long, 8 cm. broad, long-acute, the middle ones suborbicular, 8 
cm. long, 10 cm. broad, rounded at the base, with a very short- 
acuminate tip; flowers large, longer than the branch-bracts, red 
and yellow (fide Cook). 
Cook & Collins 149, Buena Vista, Costa Rica; photo 5547- 
Growing in a deep ravine. 
This plant with its broad branch-bracts rather closely packed 
on the rachis, belongs to the subgenus Zaeniostrobus. But its 
sessile inflorescence makes it unusual in that section. It is not 
close to any of the described species, differing from all either in 
the absence of a peduncle or in the inflorescence being much nar- 
rower with smaller bracts. It seems to be distinct also from all 
other species of the genus, whether of the same subgenus or not, 
in the colored venation of the leaves. 
Bihai longa sp. nov. 
Stem 6 m. long, inclined (fide Collins), leaf-surfaces radially 
disposed; leaves 1.52 m. long, about 50 cm. broad, acute, 
obliquely cordate at the base, rather thick and firm, glabrous 
except along the midrib, covered below with a bloom so extremely 
dense as to be as thick as the body of the leaf itself and to givé 
the under surface a feeling like that of felt; petiole about I m. 
long ; inflorescence pendulous, nearly 2 m. long, peduncle 25 c™» 
stout, glabrous; rachis flexuose, flexible, short-tomentose, inte 
ig pe oe ee a [i —— iti; aaipacas:  — asia —_— emanating fC. T_T. a Ty TT. 2 Se 
