COROCORO COPPER DISTRICT OF BOLIVIA 97 



Genus Calliandra BENTHAM 

 Calliandra obliqua ENGELHARDT 



PLATE IV. 



Calliandra obliqua Engelhardt, Sitz. Natnrw. Gesell. Isis in 

 Dresden, 1894, Abh. i, p. 15, pi. i, fig. 55. 



Berry, Proc. U. S. Natl. Mus., vol. 54, p. 134, pi. 15, figs. 23-29, 

 1917- 



Description. Leaflets small, variable in size, oblong in 

 outline, sessile or subsessile, acutely pointed, with a very 

 inequilateral, obliquely truncate, or subcordate base. Mar- 

 gins entire. Texture coriaceous. Length ranging from 7 

 to 28 mm. ; width ranging from 2 to 8 mm. Venation 

 consisting of usually three primaries diverging from the 

 base, sometimes with subordinate veins from the base, 

 forming loops distad and connected by cross veinlets. A 

 fragment of a leaf shows three pairs of opposite leaflets. 



The leaflets of this species are the most abundant forms 

 found at both Corocoro and Potosi, and each parting of 

 the tuffs is strewn wth them. They are variable in size, 

 and unless the venation can be seen are indistinguishable 

 from the leaflets of Mimosa arcuati folia Engelhardt; in 

 fact, Engelhardt figured but a single leaflet of Calliandra 

 obliqua, which is near its maximum size, and he probably 

 confused the smaller leaflets with Mimosa arcuati folia. 



The venation is typical of Callmndra, but is also shared 

 by some species of Acacia. The present species is said 

 by Engelhardt to be practically identical with the existing 

 Calliandra macrocephala Bentham, of Brazil. It is also 

 identical with an unnamed Calliandra figured by Schenk. 

 It may also be compared with the existing Calliandra parvi- 

 flora Bentham. 



The modern species of Calliandra comprise over a hun- 

 dred shrubs and small trees of tropical and subtropical 

 America, with a few outlying species in farther India, 

 Ceylon, and Madagascar. The genus is well represented 

 in eastern Bolivia, and some species extend westward to 



