is 
CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE GRAY HERBARIUM ve qr” 
UNIVERSITY.—NEW SERIES, we. XXXVII 
Presented by B. L. Robinson, January 12,1910. Received February 15, 1910. 
I. A PRELIMINARY SYNOPSIS OF THE GENUS 
ECHEANDIA. 
By C. A. WEATHERBY. 
Tre genus Echeandia, founded on Anthericum reflecum Cav., was 
proposed by Ortega in his Novarum Plantarum Decades in 1798, and 
has been generally maintained by botanists since. Kunth, in 1843, 
recognized three species under it. Baker, monographing the A nther- 
tceae in 1877, could find no clear lines of demarcation between these 
species and referred all the material known to him to the original 
species. Hemsley, though suspecting that more than one species was 
concerned, retained Baker’s treatment because of insufficient material 
for a satisfactory revision. Since the date of his work, the increasingly 
thorough floristic exploration of Mexico has revealed a number of 
obviously distinct forms, several of which have been singly deseri 
by various botanists. The genus can hardly yet be considered as 
thoroughly understood ; but a brief synopsis, which shall contrast the 
characters of the different species and bring together the existing 
information concerning them, may be of service, even though it can 
lay no claim to finality. The following is an attempt at such a 
synopsis. 
Echeandia is, so far as known, a strictly American genus and chiefly 
confined to Mexico and Central America. The material at hand shows 
One species collected in Venezuela. The genus is very closely related 
to Anthericum L., from which, indeed, it is separated by only one 
constant character — its connate anthers. Although the American 
species of Anthericum are more numerous than those of Hcheandia, 
the two groups show a distinctly pa rallel development, og con- 
taining species with smooth and with roughened filaments, smooth 
and scabrous stems and ovoid and oblong capsules. In aritlar, 
E. macrocarpa and A. stenocarpum, and E. Pringle: and A. tenue are 
nearly indistinguishable except by the characters of their anthers. 
