158 Plants Collected in Paraguay. 



sweet-scented flower. From 2 to 7 flowers in a cluster on a com- 

 mon peduncle. This species has large, ovate, opposite, simple 

 leaves. It is both cultivated in flower-gardens and runs wild in 

 the country. I found it not only in the vicinity of Asuncion, but 

 far up on the Pilcomayo. 



APOCYNACE^. 



Thevetia neriifolia, Juss. ex Steud. ; D.C., Prod., viii, 43. 



Asuncion (642). April-May. 



A shrub or small tree, 3-7 m. high, with milky juice and long, 

 linear, glabrous, coriaceous leaves. The flowers are large and 

 showy, bright yellow, on filiform, drooping peduncles. The twin 

 ovaries become in fruit perfectly united so as to form a 2 or 4-celled 

 triangular drupe, containing a thick, hard pulp or aril. This is 

 suspended on a long, slender, drooping stalk, soon dropping off. 

 It is sometimes cultivated along the borders of walks in gardens, 

 where it makes a pretty object. It is the "Cerbera Thevetia^^ of 

 Parodi's catalogue, named by him "San Francisco de los Uagas.^^ 



TlicTetia Paraguayeiisis, Britton, u. sp. 



Twigs and pedicels densely velvety-pubescent. Leaves oblanceolate, thick, 

 obtuse and cuspidate at the apex, narrowed at the base, glabrate above, 

 densely puberulent beneath, 6-10 cm. long, 2-3 cm. wide; petioles 3-4 ram. 

 long ; flowers racemose or corymbose ; pedicels ascending, 1^-3 cm. long ; calyx 

 lobes lanceolate, acuminate, 7-8 mm. long, puberulent ; corolla ampliate, 

 about 4 cm. long, the limb longer than the tube ; follicles ovoid, 3 cm. long, 

 about ]^ cm. thick ; seeds flat, 1^ cm. long, 1 cm. wide, 2-pointed. 



Gran Chaco, near Asuncion (381). Nearest to T. cuneifolia, 

 D.C., of Mexico. January-February. = Balansa 1356. 



A shrub not so tall as 642, but with flowers much like that. The 

 stigma is large, umbella-shaped, looking to me like an open parasol 

 under the anthers. I did not see it in cultivation. 



Aspidosperma Queliraclio-lilaiicOjSchlecht., Bot. Zeit., xix, 136. 



Pilcomayo River (900). 



This is a large tree with hard white wood and light-colored bark, 

 much valued as timber. It has small elliptical, coriaceous, shining 

 leaves, tipped with a w^eak spine. It is abundant in Paraguay, but 

 I was unable to obtain it in flower or fruit. It is popularly known 

 as Quebracho bianco. 



