Brother Léon: A New Cuban Sida. 71 



wrinkled, 2-pointed at apex, 1-seeded, partially 2-valved; seed 

 3-angled, 2 mm. long, brown, filling the cavity. 



Dry savanua, Chirigota, Piuar del Rio, Léo7i & Roca 7466. 



This species was coUected by the vvTiter in company with 

 Father Modesto Roca Masden, on August 9, 1917, in the savanna 

 of Chirigota, near Santa Cruz de los Pinos, Pinar del Rio pro- 

 vince. (*) This localitj' is well known to the botanists who have 

 studied the flora of Cuba, a number of rare plants having been 

 collected there by Charles Wright, who, for several years, had 

 his quarters not very far away, at Retiro, at the foot of the 

 western mountain range. 



North of the road which conneets Havana with Pinar del 

 Rio, lies the higher and drier portion of the Chirigota savanna. 

 In its gravelly soil more or less mixed with grains of limonite, 

 is growing a palm {Sahal sp.) closely related to the palmetto of 

 the southeastem States, and, among lower plants, Sporobolus 

 ijidicus is predominant in many places. In that environment, 

 the plant on which the new species is based attracted our atten- 

 tion by its abundant and hirsute foliage and its relatively large 

 yellow flowers, perhaps the niost showy of all Cuban Sidas. 



The specimens collected had been at first tentatively ref erred 

 to Sida ciliaris L., many characters being commen to both 

 species: Stems prostrate, hirsute-strigose, diffusely branching 

 at base; leaves crenate or serrate above the middle; flowers clus- 

 tered at the end of branches; long-ciliate linear or spatulate 

 stipules. Remembering how the living plant differed in aspect 

 from S. ciliaris I thought it likely to be a distinct species. 

 In faet a more accurate observation revealed a number of dis- 

 tinct characters. At first sight, the mode of branching and the 

 distribution of leaves appear ver}^ different; in S. Brittoni the 

 numerous stems which branch only near the base and have 

 their nodes approximate, are leafy and nearly simple most of 

 their length, while in S. ciliaris the stems, shorter and thinner 



(*) The following specimens from othcr localities are in the herbarium 

 of The New York Botanical Gaiden: pine-woods, Herradura {Earle 748); 

 royal palm savanna. Herradura (Britton, Earle & Gager 6342) ; coastal 

 plain near Coloma {Britton & Gager 6996). The plant is also in the 

 herbatium of Columbia University, as found by Charles Wright (2046), 

 presumally in Pinar del Rio, and this was the coUection recordad by 

 Griscbach as Sida ciliaris L. — F. "W. Pennell. 



