88 



CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE NATIONAL HERBARIUM. 



Fi<;. 1.— Fruit of Beaucarnea guatemalensia. a, Side view: 

 b, cross Bection Bbowing seed; c, cross section Bhowing 

 undeveloped ovules al base. All scale 2. 



known on lv from foliage or flowering specimens nave been referred 

 to Molina while those collected in t'ruii have been described as Das^ 

 lirion. Beaucarnea rarelj flowers in cultivation and, being dioecious 

 or nearly so, its tin i i has rarely it' ever been obtained. 



Monographers therefore have associated Beaucarnea and Molina 

 together because of the similarity of their leaves. 



Beaucarnea guatemalensis Rone, Bp. nov. FiGl BJ L. 



Tree, 6 to 12 meters high with a thickened bulbous base abruptly contracted into 



a Blender stem 5 to 8 cm. in diameter; Bwollen base covered with a thick corky bark 



6cm. thick: upper part of stein smooth and with very thin hark: leaves numer- 

 ous, clustered at the top as in the 

 common cultivated Beaucari 

 erect | ? i. broad at base (4 to •"> cm. 

 broad |, 10 to 15 nun. broad im- 

 mediately above the base, *_'•"> nun. 

 broad 20 cm. from base, gradually 

 tapering upward into a long fili- 

 form tip 60 to so cm, long, the 

 margin entire; male inflorescence 

 an open panicle, 7-"' to lh' cm. 

 long; female inflorescence not 

 seen; fruit 15 mm. long, Btrongly 

 3- winged; wings thin, 4 to 5 mm. 

 broad. 



Type specimen l'. 8. National 



Herbarium no. 474781, collected by W. A. Kellerman in a rocky ravine on the south 

 Bide of the Sierra de las Minas, opposite El Rancho, Guatemala, altitude about 600 



meters, on .March 10, L905 (no 4320). 

 This species belongs with />'. inermis and II. pHabilis, but the fruit is broader-winged 



than in the former and the leaves are broader than in the latter. 



Beaucarnea inermis ( S. Wats.' Rose. FlGUBB 2. 



Dasylirion inermis S. Wats. I 'roe. Am. 

 Acad. 26: 157. 1891. 



This remarkable tree, although com- 

 mon in its native haunts, has until very 

 recently only been known from the 

 specimens obtained by Dr. ('. G. 

 Pringle near has Palmas in the low 

 lands of San Luis Potosf. Dr. E. 

 Palmer collected it in 1905 in this 

 same general region. The writer observed it in L899, but obtained no specimens. 



Beaucarnea oedipus Rose, sp. nov. Plate Will. 



Trees to L2 meters or more high; t he hase variously and enormously enlarged, 



at first a globular body crowned by a clump of leaves but in very old plants more or 

 Less dome-shaped and I to 2 meters high by 2 to 7 meters in circumference: the trunk 

 above the base comparatively slender, often much branched, each branch crowned 

 by a cluster of slender leaves; Leaves erect, linear, 25 to 40 cm. Long, \ to 6 mm. 

 broad above the hase: inflorescence paniculate; fruit 3-winged. 



Type r. 8. National Herbarium no. 453660, collected by J. N. hose and Jos. u. 

 Painter od hills nearTehuacan, Puebla, August and September, L906 i no. L0157 }. Also 



collected from the same station by L>r. Win. Trclea-e. August, L903, and by Dr. C. R. 



Purpus, L905, 



Fk.. 2. — Fruit of Beaucarnea inermis. a, Side view; 

 /». cross section show [ng Beed ; c, cross section Bhow- 

 ing undeveloped ovules al base. All scale 2. 



