(195 ) 
Distribution: central and southern Mexico, Guatemala, Costa 
ica. 
Broad-leaved plants from Costa Rica, Prttzer 93, 1982, have 
been distributed as Verzonda mollis H.B.K. 
53. WERNONIA PATENS H.B.K. Nov. Gen. 4: qr. 1818 
? Vernonta lanceolaris DC. Prodr. 5: 37. 1836. 
? Vernonta pacchensis Benth. Pl. Hartw. 134. 
Tall shrub; stem and branches striate or angled, thinly tomen- 
tose; leaves firm, oblong, lanceolate or narrowly o ee 
to cm. long, 3 cm. wide, those of the branches only 1-1.5 cm. 
wide, sean a entire or undulate, somewhat es ee narrowed 
at base into petioles 2-3 mm. long, glabrous and somewhat shining 
but rugose above, pubescent beneath, especially on the prominent 
reticulated veins; inflorescence lax, ‘spreading , I-1.5 dm. wide; 
he all sessile or nearly so, 21-flowered; involucre ens 
4 mm. high; scales coriaceous, loosely imbricated in few series, 
the ee broadly ovate, blunt, ciliate, the inner ovate-lanceolate or 
date; achenes obscurely angled, 2 mm. long, pubescent; Pappus 
tawny-yellow, 5 mm. long, the outer series distinct but shor 
Type locality: ‘*In America meridionali.” 
Distribution: southern Mexico to Nicaragua and South America. 
A form with leaves narrowly lance-oblong to elliptic, 12-20 cm. 
long, 2-4 ¢ wide, very thin and glabrous, has been distributed 
as V. danceolaris DC. It is perhaps merely a glabrous-leaved form 
of V. patens. Chiapas, Melson 3815; Nicaragua, Baker 2257. 
The three preceding species are closely related and so confused 
by intergrading variations that their separation is extremely diffi- 
cult. . Deppeana is perhaps the most easily recognized because 
of its elliptic, softly cinereous-tomentose leaves. In general habit, 
foliage and involucre V. Aschendorniana and V. patens are 
much alike, and the principal distinction, based on the number of 
flowers in the head, is possibly not a legitimate one. No authen- 
tic specimens have been examined, so that the exact status of the 
species and the four supposed synonyms is not certain. Vernonia 
mollis TA.B.K. and V. cordata H.B.K. also belong in this species- 
roup. A fragment of the latter in the Gray Herbarium closely 
resembles 7. Deppeana except for the subcordate leaves, and V. 
mollis also is possibly a form of the same species. 
