74 CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE NATIONAL HERBARIUM. 



6. ERYTHEA S. Wats. Bot. Calif. 2: 211. 1880. 

 Reference: Beccari, Webbia 2: 118-140. 1907. 



Plants with tall trunks; leaves flabelliform. deeply divided, the divisions 

 lacerate at the apex ; flowers perfect ; fruit baccate. 

 Fruit obpyriform, distinctly attenuate to the base; petioles unarmed. 



1. E. elegans. 

 Fruit globose, rounded at the base ; petioles usually armed with spinelike teeth. 



Leaves glaucous 2. E. armata. 



Leaves green. 



Fruit 1.5 to 2 cm. in diameter; trunk sometimes 30 meters high. 



3. E. brandegeei. 

 Fruit 2.5 to 3 cm. in diameter ; trunk usually 6 to 9 meters high. 



Petioles armed witli short Iiooked spines 4. E. aculeata. 



Petioles unarmed or nearly so 5. E. edulis. 



1. Erythea eleg-ans Franceschi ; Becc. Webbia 2: 138. 1907. 

 Sonora, in the region about Hermosillo. 



Leaves glaucescent ; fruit 18 to 20 mm. long, 15 to 17 mm. thick. 



2. Erythea armata S. Wats. Bot. Calif. 2: 212. 1880. 

 Brahea armata S. Wats. Proc. Amer. Acad. 11: 146. 1876. 

 Glaiicothea armata Cook, Journ. Washington Acad. Sci. 5: 237. 1915. 

 Along canyons and arroyos, northern Baja California ; type from Tantillas 



Mountains. 



Trunk sometimes 12 meters high and a meter in diameter, but usually about 

 6 meters high ; leaves very numerous, the blades glaucous, the petioles armed 

 with curved teeth ; inflorescence slender, exceeding the leaves, the flowers dull 

 purplish. " Palma blanca " (Sonora). 



This species is cultivated in southern California and in Sonora. It has been 

 made the type of a new genus, Glaucothea, by Cook. While this genus is appar- 

 ently well founded, it seems impracticable to recognize it in the present work, 

 since the position of some of the other species, especially E. elegans, is doubtful. 



3. Erythea brandegeei' Purpus, Gartenflora 1903: 32. f. 1, 2. 1903. 

 Mountains of the Cape Region of Baja California. 



Trunk 30 meters high or higher, about 60 cm. in diameter or less, smooth; 

 leaves 10 to 12, the blades subtomentose, sparsely filiferous, green above, pale 

 beneath, about 1 meter long; petioles glabrous, 1 to 1.5 meters long, spine- 

 toothed ; inflorescence tomentose ; fruit 10 to 15 mm. in diameter. " Palmilla," 

 " palma negra," " palma de Tlaco." 



The tender buds are eaten. 



4. Erythea aculeata T. S. Brandeg. Zoe 5 : 196. 1905. 

 Sinaloa ; type from Cofradla. 



Trunk 6 to 7 meters high; leaf blades 40 to 60 cm. long, with about 40 

 segments, slightly filiferous; petioles slender, 50 cm, long or longer, the mar- 

 gins armed with short teeth ; fruit globose, 2.5 cm. in diameter. 



'Named for T. S. Brandegee (1843-) who has made large collections of 

 Mexican plants, chiefly in Baja California, but also in Sinaloa. He has pub- 

 lished several papers upon the plants of Baja California, which are our most 

 important sources of information upon the botanical features of that region. 

 He has published, also, papers dealing with plants from other parts of Mexico, 

 especially the recent collections obtained by C. A. Purpus. The Brandegee 

 Herbarium is at the University of California, but largo numbers of the plants of 

 Mr. Brandegee's collections are in the U. S. National Herbarium. 



