1242 CONTRIBUTIONS FEOM THE NATIONAL HERBARIUM. 



" celosa," " celosa cimarrona," " violetina " (Cuba); " espina de paloma" 

 (Panama); " lluvia," " azota-caballo," " lila," " cuenta de oro " (Porto Rico); 

 " pensamiento " (Nicaragua); " lora " (Panama); " heliotropio," "cliulada" 

 (El Salvador). 



The fruit has been used as a febrifuge, and stimulant properties have been 

 ascribed to the flowers. 



6. VALEBIAITOIDES Medic. Phil. Bot 1: 177. 1789. j 



Shrubs or herbs ; leaves opposite or alternate, toothed ; flowers spicate, 

 sessile in the axils of bracts or imbedded in excavations in the thick rachis ; 

 calyx tubular, 5-lobate ; corolla salverform or f unnelform ; stamens 2 ; fruit 

 dry, included in the calyx, separating into 2 nutlets. 



Spikes (excluding the corollas) 1 cm. or more in diameter, the flowers not 

 closely appressed ; style exserted. 



Spikes about 20 cm. long 1. V. albiflomm. 



Spikes less than 12 cm. long. 



Calyx very densely and minutely puberulent 2. V. luisanum. 



Calyx hirtellous or hirsute. 



Bracts long-ciliate 3. V. acuminatum.. 



Bracts not conspicuously ciliate 4. V. nelsonii. 



Spikes 7 mm. or less in diameter, the flowers closely appressed to the rachis ; 

 style usually not exserted. 



Calyx usually glabrous ; corolla blue 5. V. jam.aicense. 



Calyx pubescent ; corolla purplish or reddish 6. V. mutabile. 



1. Valerianoides albiflorum (DC.) Kuntze, Rev. Gen. PI. 2: 510. 1891. 

 StacJiytarpheta albi flora DC; Schauer in DC. Prodr. 11: 567. 1847. 

 IStacliytarpheta albiflora coerulea Loesener, Repert. Sp. Nov. Fedde 9: 366. 



1911. 



Type from Oaxaca ; reported from Hidalgo. 



Shrub, the branches pubescent ; leaves ovate or elliptic, large, contracted be- 

 low and subsessile, acuminate, coarsely crenate, strigose above, canescent-to- 

 mentose beneath ; calyx 10 to 14 mm. long ; corolla white. 



2. Valerianoides luisanum Standi., sp. nov. 

 Type from Barranca de Tlacuilosto, near San Luis Tultitlanapa, Puei^Ia 



(Purpus 25G8; U. S. Nat. Herb. no. 840562). 



Shrub, the branchlets densely puberulent ; leaves alternate, short-petiolate, 

 oblong-ovate or rhombic-ovate, 1.5 to 3 cm. long, obtuse or acute, abruptly de- 

 current at base, coarsely crenate-serrate, minutely scaberulous ; spikes 4 to 

 7 cm. long, the rachis puberulent; bracts lanceolate, acuminate, shorter than 

 the calyx, minutely canescent-scaberulous ; calyx 1 cm. long, scaberulous, 

 deeply cleft ventrally, bidentate at apex; corolla tube slender, glabrous, about 

 equaling the calyx, the limb 12 mm. broad ; style exserted. 



3. Valerianoides acuminatum (DC.) Kuntze, Rev. Gen. PI. 2: 510. 1891, 

 Stacliytarpheta acuminata DC; Schauer in DC. Prodr. 11: 570. 1847. 

 Oaxaca. 

 Plants suffrutescent ; leaves oblong-ovate or elliptic-oblong, 4 to 7 cm. long. 



acute or obtuse, crenate-serrate, scaberulous or beneath hirtellous; calyx 8 

 mm. long; corolla violaceous. 



