96 New Species of South American Plants 



scales on the fac; reflexed. Crown slightly exceeding the 

 stamens, the ligules erect, linear, very thin. Anther append- 

 ages narrow, strongly inflexed. Corpuscle oval, obtuse, the 

 thickened filaments attached to the very base, the pendulous 

 poUinia very small. Stigma 5-lobed, the lobes oval, strongly 

 deflexed and adnate. 



"In dry thickets back of sandy coast, Playa Brava, June 

 6. Abundant and flowering freely." (Herbert H. Smithy 

 Colombia, No. 1680.) 



Metastelma pallidum. 



Sparsely and very minutely puberulent. Stems slender, 

 much branched, the branches divaricate and somewhat re- 

 curved. Petioles to 6 mm. long, slender, narrowly margined. 

 Blades 3 to 5 cm. long, i to 2 cm. wids, with the rounded base 

 very abruptly and shortly produced and with acuminate and 

 pungent summit, thin, very pale, the venation slender, slightly 

 prominent on both sides, sub-trinerved, the other secondaries 

 about 5 on a side, spreading and connecting with the basal 

 pair in a wavy line some distance from the margin. Pseudo- 

 racemes very shortly peduncled, loosely few-flowered, the pedi- 

 cels about tnree times the length of the flowers, minutely biacte- 

 olate at the base. Calyx 1.5 mm. wide, the rotate corolla 4 

 mm., wide. Calyx-lobes ovate, obtuse, thin. Corolla-lobes 

 obovate. Crown closely adnate to the base of the stamens, 

 the lobes very short, 3-toothed. Corpuscle narrow, the fila- 

 ments short, thick. Stigma 5-lobed, the lobes oblong. 



"A twining vine, to 15 feet, with white flowers. In thickets 

 on a ridge near Cacagualita, 2,000 feet, January 10. Also, 

 collected in December" (Herbert H. Smith, Colombia, 1900.) 



Metastelma (§ Eumetastelma) ovatum. 



Glabrous. Stems slender, terete, finely nerved, leafy. Peti- 

 oles to 2.5 cm. long, very slender. Blades 3 t9 5 cm. long, 1.5 

 to 3 cm. wide, ovate with broad rounded base and acuminate, 

 cuspidate, pungent summit, pale-green, thin, the venation 

 slender, lightly prominent on the lower surface, the secondaries 

 7 or 8 on a side, the ends upcurved and obscurely connecting. 

 Peduncles slender, longer than their petioles, the flowers um- 

 bellate, rather numerous, the filiform pedicels about twice the 

 length of the flowers. Calyx about 1.5 mm. broad, divided 

 nearly to the base, the lobes ovate, acute. Corolla rotate, 3.5 

 mm. broad, parted nearly to the base, the lobes ovate, obtusish, 

 bearing a row of scales near each margin. Ligules of the crown 

 very little longer than the stamens, narrowly linear, acute, the 

 upper half abruptly turned outward and replicate. Corpuscle 

 linear. Follicle 7 cm. long, 4.5 mm. wide, long-attenuate and. 

 slightly curved. 



