72 Plants Collected in Paraguay. 



as large as a pea, red when ripe, 3-angled. This shrub is armed, 

 at least below, with stout, straight spines. 



Retanilla? 



Pilcomayo Kiver (913). 



Known to the natives as the Jacaranda or Caranda, a tree with a 

 trunk about 20 cm. thick and 10 or 12 m. high. A striking object 

 in the woods. I found it without flowers or fruit. The whole head 

 presents the appearance of chevaux-de-frise, being composed, appa- 

 rently, of long, stout spines, 8-25 cm. in length, thickened in the 

 middle and very sharp at the apex. These are really the branches. 

 Leaves reduced to 2 or 3 minute scales at the base of the branches, 

 very caducous. The trunk has a dark shaggy bark, and the heart- 

 wood is bluish-black, densely hard, with a small ring of white wood 

 next to the bark. 



We suppose this to be a Retanilla, but Mr. N. E. Brown, of 

 Kew, doubts that it belongs to that genus. 



Gouauia tomentosa, Jacq., Amer., 263. 



Asuncion (644). April. 



A tendril climber, clambering in dense masses over shrubs and 

 small trees in thickets in the vicinity of Asuncion. Flowers white, 

 in long, slender, supra-axillary spikes, very conspicuous. Fruit a 

 globular, slightly 3-angled, fuscous-hairy capsule, 3-celled, with 3 

 large, flat seeds, one in each cell. 



AMPELIDE^. 

 Vitis palmata (Poir.), Baker in Mart. Fl. Bras., xiv, pt. 2, 216. 



Asuncion (138); Pilcomayo River (1091). Flower November ; 

 fruit May. 



An interesting vine which I found climbing upon trees and fences 

 in the neighborhood of Asuncion, and afterwards upon shrubs in 

 the great laguna on the Pilcomayo River. It has deeply divided 

 palmate leaves. Flowers small, wax-like, yellowish-brown, in 

 umbel-like clusters. Fruit a pear-shaped, purple berry, 1-celled, 

 1-seeded. Exceedingly hard to preserve, as the leaves and flower 

 clusters will disintegrate in spite of all endeavors. I never could 

 keep one of those collected about Asuncion, although I tried repeat- 

 edly to press them, but for some reason had no difficulty with those 

 of the Pilcomayo region. 



