STANDLEY TREES AND SHRUBS OF MEXICO, 803 



Leaves densely pubescent beneath with minute spreading hairs ; in- 

 florescence viscid-pubescent 7. M. tragiaefolia. 



Stamens longer tlian the styles. 



Lower surface of leaves covered with rather long, appressed hairs, or 



rarely glabrate 8. M. urticaefolia. 



Lower surface of leaves covered with minute spreading hairs. 



9. M. tomentella. 



1. "Melochia pyramidata L. Sp. PI. 774. 1753. 



Nearly throughout Mexico. Widely distributed in the warmer portions of 

 both hemispheres. 



Slender shrub, 1 to 2 meters high, or often herbaceous; leaves slender-petio- 

 late, oblong to rounded-ovate, acute or obtuse, rounded at base, serrate, green, 

 often glabrous but frequently sparsely pubescent ; flowers in axillary corymbs, 

 mostly pedicellate ; petals violet, about 7 mm. long ; capsule 5 to 6 mm. long and 

 somewhat broader, the lobes broadened at the base, acute and spreading. 

 " Suponite " (Oaxaca) ; " malva comfm," " malva cimarrona " (Cuba); " bre- 

 t6nica "' ( Porto Rico ) . 



The plant is eaten by stock. 



2. Melochia tomentosa L. Syst. Nat. ed. 10. 1140. 1759. 

 Melochia plicata Presl, Kel. Haenk. 2: 145. 1836. 

 Melochia spcciosa S. Wats. Proc. Amer. Acad. 24 : 42. 1889. 

 Melochia arida Rose, Contr. U. S. Nat. Herb. 8: 321. 1905. 



Nearly throughout Mexico. Widely distributed in the warmer parts of the 

 Western Hemisphere. 



Shrub, 0.5 to 2.5 meters high ; leaves on long or short petioles, oblong to 

 broadly rhombic-ovate, rounded to acutish at apex, rounded or subcordate at 

 base, crenate or dentate, thick, usually densely and finely tomentose on both 

 surfaces; flowers in loose cymes, mostly pedicellate; petals pink to violet, 8 to 

 IS mm. long; fruit 7 to 9 mm. long, long-beaked, the lobes rounded to acutish 

 below. " Malvavisco " (Porto Rico); " bretonica " (Porto Rico, Venezuela); 

 "malva," " varita de San Jose" (Nicaragua). 



The plants vary considerably in size of flowers and leaves, in density of 

 pubescence, and in form of the fruit, but none of the proposed segregates seem 

 worthy of recognition. M. arida is a small-leaved form of dry regions. If. spe- 

 ciosa is a form with unsually large flowers and rather scant pubescence. Wat- 

 son compared the latter, in his original description, with M. pyramidata, from 

 which, of course, it is amply distinct. To the present writer it seems not 

 improbable that M. pyramidata and M. tomentosa may at times hybridize. 



3. Melochia glandulifera Standi., sp. nov. 



Type from Tonalft, Chiapas (Purpus 6925; U. S. Nat. Herb. 567212). 



Branches slender, sparsely furnished with short weak simple gland-tipped 

 hairs; leaves slender-petiolate, deltoid-lanceolate or lance-ovate, acute or acu- 

 minate, rounded at base, serrate-dentate, thin, glabrous beneath, with a few 

 scattered hairs above ; flowers in lateral cymes, mostly long-pedicellate, the 

 bractlets linear, ciliate, more than twice as long as the calyx ; calyx lobes 

 shorter than the tube, cuspidate-acuminate; petals purple, 5 mm. long; fruit 

 subglobose, 4.5 mm. in diameter, setulose-hirtellous and also with slender 

 gland-tipped hairs. 



4. Melochia interrupta (Schlecht.) Hemsl. Biol. Centr. Amer. Bot. 1: 131. 1879. 

 Riedlea interrupta Schlecht. Linnaea 11: 375. 1837. 



Veracruz ; type from Hacienda de la Laguna. 



