ECOLOGY AND TAXONOMY OF Holimeda 



97 



Fig. 23. H.favulosa. Holotype, Bahamas, Cave Cays, Exuma Chain, Howe 3981. (Photo- 

 graph courtesy of the New York Botanical Garden.) 



Since favulosa fairly closely resembles the relatively common 

 monile it may easily be passed over as such in the field. This perhaps 

 partly explains its extremely restricted recorded distribution. 



This species can be distinguished macroscopically from monile and 

 other Rhipsalian species by the friable nature of its segments and their 

 pitted surface. The pitted texture results from the large diameters of 

 the peripheral utricles, and their partial or complete separation by 

 calcium carbonate partitions. Histologically, favulosa is characterized 

 by a relatively poorly developed inner cortex and by the large dimen- 

 sions of the peripheral and secondary utricles. 



