Pomona College Journal of Economic Botany 



275 



Gaussia attenuata Becc. Aeria attenuata O. F. Cook in Torrey bot. Club, 

 1901, p. 548, t. 47. 



Dr. U. Dammer and Prof. I. Urban have already expressed the opinion 

 (Urban, Symb. Antill. IV, 129) that the Genus Aeria might, possibly, be reduced 

 to Gaussia. I am now able from inspection of the flowers and fruit of the type 

 of Aeria (Cook No. 1040) to confirm this opinion, and I have, moreover, found 

 A. attenuata to be rather closely related to Gaussia princeps, from which it differs 

 in its more elongate stem, and in the somewhat larger fruit and seed. The flowers 

 are very similar in arrangement and form in both plants ; those of G. attenuata 



Figure 118. Gaussia princeps. a, branchlet with a fruiting perianth; c, fruit, side 

 view; d, fruit, front view; e, seed, side view; f, seed cut longitudinally through 

 the embryo. 



are, however, more globose than those of G. princeps, have the petals less dis- 

 tinctly striately veined, and are also marked by fewer veins than those of the 

 latter. 



According to Cook, G. attenuata has the leaflets without basal cushions, the 

 fresh fruit of a deep orange color, 16 mm. long by 12 mm., and the seed flattened- 

 oval. The only dry fruit I have seen is obovoid, 15 mm. long, 11 mm. broad; the 

 seed is 1 1 mm. long, 7.5 mm. broad, regular obovoid, not at all flattened, it has a 

 round top and narrows at the base to a symmetrical, bluntish (not bent) point; 



