204 Plants Collected in Paraguay. 



entire, alternate, shining, elliptical or oval, acuminate at apex and 

 sloping at base into a petiole about 1 cm. in length. Flowers very 

 showy, numerous, in terminal clusters. The showy part of the 

 flower consists of a large involucre of 3 ovate, purple bracts, 4 cm. 

 long and 3 cm. wide. The real flowers inside of these bracts are 

 quite inconspicuous, one attached to each involucral bract. This 

 shrub makes a beautiful ornament in the gardens of Asuncion, 

 blossoming profusely all the year round. It is a native of Brazil 

 and said to grow wild in Paraguay, but I doubt it, at least at any 

 noticeable distance from the Brazilian border. 



Reictienliacliia liirsuta, Spreng., Syst. Veg., i, 94. 



Asuncion (167). November-March. 



A small tree 5-8 m. in height, placed by Sprengel and Choisy in 

 this Order, but somewhat anomalous, and thought By Hooker to 

 constitute a new family. Leaves thick, obovate, acute at both 

 ends, green above, hoary with a white stellate tomentum beneath. 

 Branches, peduncles, and exterior of the corolla covered with the 

 same tomentum. Flowers in axillary clusters along the branches, 

 2-10 or more in a cluster, apetalous, tubular, 10 or 12 mm. long. 

 Perianth with 4 small lobes, unequal, rotate in anthesis, yellowish 

 above. Stamens 2, inserted on a disk beneath the ovary. Ovary 

 1-celled, 1-ovuled. Stigma penicillate. Fruit with a single flattish, 

 black and shining seed in the persistent perianth. This grows on 

 the borders of thickets and is also planted on the borders of fields. 



Pisonia comliretifolia, Mart. Fl. Bras., xiv, pt. 2, 360. 



Asuncion (686); Pilcomayo Kiver (999). April-June. 



A fine tree 10-20 m. high, 1 m. or more in diameter at the base, 

 with brown or grayish, furrowed or shaggy bark on the trunk, 

 downy on young branches and on the inflorescence. The limbs are 

 nearly horizontal ; the flowering twigs erect and crowded, giving 

 to the tree the look of a flat topped head with several tiers of pro- 

 jecting branches below. Leaves numerous, opposite or scattered, 

 glabrous, a little revolute, oval or obovate, obtuse at the apex, 

 sloping at base into a petiole 1-2 cm. long, the largest blades 7 cm. 

 long and 3j cm. wide. Flowers creamy-white and very fragrant, 

 in large panicled cymes at the summit of the branches. They are 

 polygamo-dioecious. Bracteoles at the base of the corolla 5, minute, 

 caducous. Perianth epigynous, normally of 5 segments, but often 



