1112 CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE NATIONAL HERBARIUM. 



Parathesis crenulata Hook, f . ; Hemsl. Biol. Centr. Amer. Bot. 2: 291. 1881. 



Parathesis reflexa T. S. Brandeg. Univ. Calif. Publ. Bot. 6: 189. 1915. 



Tepic to San Luis Potosi, Veracruz, Oaxaca, and Chiapas. West Indies, Cen- 

 tral America, and northern South America. 



Shrub, 1 to 2.5 meters high, the branchlets ferruginous-tomentulose ; leaves 

 petiolate, oblanceolate, oblong, or elliptic-hmceolate, 10 to 20 cm. long, acumi- 

 nate, attenuate or acute at base, entire or crenulate, glabrous above, beneath 

 glabrous or stellate-tomentulose ; panicles many-flowered, shorter or longer 

 than the leaves ; flowers pink, the buds about 4 mm. long, tomentulose ; fruit 

 globose, blui?ii black. " Cugia " (Nicaragua); " cinco negritos " (Chiapas); 

 " rasca-garganta," " seca-garganta " (Porto Rico); " jalapon " (Santo Do- 

 mingo). 



The fruit is edible. 



6. Parathesis chiapensis Fernald, Proc. Amer. Acad. 36: 497. 1901. 

 Chiapas; tj'pe collected between San Martin and Ococingo. 



Branchlets ferruginous- tomentose ; leaves elliptic, about 17 cm. long and 7 

 cm. wide, acuminate, cenulate, coriaceous, glabrous above, stellate-tomentu- 

 lose beneath ; panicles pyramidal, longer than the leaves ; buds tomentose. 

 " Telint4." 



7. Parathesis corymbosa Hemsl. Biol. Centr. Amer. Bot. 2: 191. 1881. 

 Guerrero, Oaxaca, Veracruz, and Yucatan ; type from Sierra San Pedro 



Nolasco, Oaxaca. 



Shrub, sometimes 4 meters high ; leaves elliptic or oblong-obovate, 13 cm. 

 long and 5 cm. wide or smaller, acute, attenuate to base, entire, thin ; panicles 

 many-flowered, pyramidal, the flowers pink; buds tomentulose. 



8. Parathesis lanceolata T. S. Brandeg. Univ. Calif. Publ. Bot. 6: 188. 1915. 

 Chiapas ; type from Finca Irlanda. 



Branchlets ferruginous-tomentose ; leaves elliptic or elliptic-lanceolate, 8 to 

 17 cm. long, long-acuminate, attenuate to base, entire or crenulate, thin, 

 glabrous above, stellate-tomentulose or glabrate beneath ; panicles equaling 

 or shorter than the leaves, tomentulose. 



133. PLUMBAGINACEAE. Plumbago Family. 



1. PLUMBAGO L. Sp. PI. 151. 1753. 



Rks-eeence: Boissier in DC. Prodr. 12: 690-694. 1848. 



Plants herbaceous or fruticose, subscandent; leaves alternate, entire, estipu- 

 late; flowers spicate, bracteate and bracteolate, blue or white; calyx tubular, 

 glandular, 5-dentate, 5-costate; corolla snlverform, with a slender tube, the 

 limb 5-lobate : stamens 5, free from the corolla, the anthers oblong-linear ; 

 style filiform, 5-branched ; fruit a capsule, circumscissile near the base. 



Plumbago capetisis Thunb., a native of South Africa, with showy blue 

 flowers, is cultivated in Mexico. In El Salvador it is known as " umbela " 

 and " lumbela." 

 Corolla white, the tube twice as long as the calyx, the lobes refuse or obtuse; 



calyx with glands extending to the base 1. P. scandens. 



Corolla blue, the tube one and one-half times as long as fche calyx or shorter, 

 the lobes acute ; calyx without glands below 2. P. pulchella. 



1. Plumbago scandens L. Sp. PI. ed. 2. 215. 1762. 



Plumbago niexicana H. B. K. Nov. Gen. & Sp. 2: 221. 1817. 



Nearly througJiout Mexico. Widely distributed in tropical America. 



