39 

 ERICACEAE. 



Vaccinium apoanum, sp. nov. 



A tree reaching a height of 10 m. with elliptical-oblong, sharply acu- 

 minate leaves, the flowers in axillary bracteate fascicles of from 3 to 6 in 

 a fascicle. Branches reddish brown, glabrous. Leaves 7 to 11 cm. long, 

 3.5 to G cm. wide, glabrous, coriaceous, the base acute, 5 to 7 nerved 

 from near the base, the outer pair of nerves obscure, the inner ones very 

 prominent, especially beneath, sharply ascending; petioles 1 cm. long. 

 Fascicles axillary, the peduncles glabrous, 1 cm. long, the bracts imbricate, 

 ovate, rusty pubescent on the outside. Calyx cylindrical, 4 mm. long, 3 

 mm. in diameter, truncate, glabrous, the teeth small. Corolla 13 mm. 

 long, pubescent, tubular-campanulate, the lobes about 3 mm. long, rounded, 

 reflexed. Stamens 10, the filaments thick, 2.5 mm. long, the anthers 3 to 

 4 mm. long. Fruit unknown. 



Type specimen No. 1103 (Copeland), Mount Apo, District of Davao, 

 Mindanao, April, 1904. A tree reaching a height of 10 m. and a diameter 

 of 30 cm., the wood white. The vegetative characters are very similar to 

 those of Vaccinium barandanum Vidal. 



THE PHILIPPINE SPECIES OF RHODODENDRON. 



The genus Rhododendron in the Philippines is apparently confined entirely 

 to the higher mountains, and accordingly the early botanical collectors in 

 the Archipelago failed to secure specimens of this interesting genus, 

 although Cuming, between the years 1836 and 1840, collected a single 

 species of the genus, brobably on Mount Banahao, Province of Tayabas, 

 Luzon, the species not being described, however, until the year 1886. 



The first Philippine Rhododendrons described were the two species R. 

 kochii and R. apoanum by Stein in Gartenflora, 1885, although the latter 

 had previously been figured by Vidal. In 1883 Vidal figured two species 

 of Rhododendron in his Sinopsis, but without specific names, and in the 

 same year Fernandez-Villar, in his Novissima Appendix to the Flora de 

 Filipinas, erroneously credited to the Philippines three species of the 

 genus, Rhododendron javanicum Blume, R. retusum R. Br., and R. jasmini- 

 florum Hook, f., these three species erroneously identifie'd by F.-Villar 

 undoubtedly being referable to the species indicated in the following con- 

 sideration. In 1886 Vidal enumerated six species of Philippine Rhodo- 

 dendron in his Revision de Plantas Vasculares Filipinas, of which three, 

 R. quadrasianum, R. verticillatum, and R. rosmarinifolium, were described 

 as new. In the same year Rolfe, finding the specific name verticillatum 

 preoccupied, proposed the new name, Rhododendron vidalii for Vidal's 

 Rhododendron verticillatum. In 1896 Rendle, in the Journal of Botany, 

 described three species of Philippine Rhododendron from Whitehead's 

 collections, R. subsessile, R. lussoniense, and R. whiteheadii, and credited 

 to the Philippines a fourth species, previously known only from Borneo. 

 In 1905 Warburg described a single species, R. schadenbergii, from northern 

 Luzon. In the following consideration fourteen species are enumerated 



