AEQUATORIALES CONTINUAE 



143 



the base, and a second pair at about the middle of the joint, tubular. 

 Leaves round-ovate, very obtuse, 3-5x6-8 cm., rather abruptly petioled 

 for some 10-15 mm. Spikes mostly solitary, rather long (60 mm.), with 

 half a dozen oblong joints some 30- to 60-flowered in 6 series when stam- 

 inate : peduncle scarcely 5 mm. long : scale pairs forming rather slender 

 truncate cups. Fruit?. Plate 212. 



Venezuelan region. The type from Venezuela. 



Specimens examined: VENEZUELA. Tovar (Karsten, 5, the type). 



Very like the preceding except in its internodes, and possibly repre- 

 senting its staminate form. 



F. CONTINUAE. 



Cataphyls on all joints, even when the stem is percurrent. Always 

 glabrous and with foliage leaves. Throughout the range of the Aequa- 

 toriales. 



Stem always or prevailingly percurrent. . PERCURRENTES. 



Stem cymose or dichotomous, rarely if ever percurrent. DICHOTOMAE. 



III. PERCURRENTES. 

 Branches percurrent, even when frequently forked. 



Cataphyls bearing flower-spikes in their axils.* CRASSIFOLIAE. 



Cataphyls not subtending spikes. 

 Leaves penninerved. 



Thick, dull, and opaque. PIPEROIDES. 



Chartaceous, glossy and veiny. P. racemosum. 



Leaves basinerved. 



Large, fleshy, dimidiate. P. obliquum. 



Moderate in size and thickness. 

 Equally nerved on both sides. 

 Cataphyls 1 pair. 

 Cataphyls 2 or 3 pairs. 

 Flowers in 2 ranks. 

 Flowers in 6 ranks. 



Venulose above, heavy-nerved beneath. 

 Spikes many-flowered. 

 Spikes slender, few-flowered. 

 Very narrow, linear. 



GARDNERIANAE. 



P. Jenmani. 

 P. Fendlerianum. 



FLAVENTES. 



P. laxiflorum. 



P. linearifolium. 



*For comparable cases in other groups see P. craspedophyllum, and, as exceptions, 

 P. Eggersii, P. Glaziovii and P. Wattii. Flower-scars have been observed in the axils 

 of cataphyls in P. longipetiolatum. 



