1958] 



THE EOTAXY OF THE QUAY AX A HIGHLAND PART III 



59 



the coastal Andes of Venezuela. This disposition was accepted by Planchon and 

 Triana. However, in the Epharmosis (1892), Vesque aligned the plant gener- 

 ic-ally with Clusia, replacing- the specific epithet lanceolata (preoccupied by C. 

 lanceolata Cambess, 1825) by the sectional name cochlanthera. The following- 

 year (1893) Vesque reversed his view by returning to the original disposition of 

 Cochlanthera as a genus. Finally, in 1925. Engler (I.e.), taking up Vesque 's first 

 name, placed this extraordinary species under Cochlanthera as a section. I con- 

 cur with this disposition. 



The next species allied to C. cochlanthera to be discovered was obtained by 

 Pennell (2824) in 1917 from Cundinamarca, and by Lawrance (131) in 1932 

 from Boyaca. both in the Eastern Cordillera of Colombia. Standley, apparently 

 without recognizing its affinity, and without knowledge of the Pennell collection, 

 designated Lawrance 131 as the type of C. orthoneura Standi. 



In 1944 Maguire on Tafelbem in central Suriname, and Cuatrecasas in 1943 

 and 1944 in the Department Valle on the Colombian Pacific Coast, collected re- 

 spectively C. lunanihera May. and C. centricupula Cuatr.. both of them failing to 

 recognize the relationship of these two new species with "cochlearform" anthers. 



And now my colleagues. Cowan and YVurdack, and I have collected on sand- 

 stone mountains in Amazonas. Venezuela, a fifth member of the section Coch- 

 lanthera, again in an area geographically and physiographically greatly dis- 

 junct from all the others. 



Such disparate distribution of the five species, each apparently narrowly 

 locally confined, suggests relictual status for the several members of the section, 

 and historically perhaps a primary position for the section. 



Sepals 7-8, the lower decussate, the upper imbricate; petals 8; stamens 15- x, 

 introrse (apparently extrorse in C. cochlanthera), 1-several-seriate, elevated on 

 a short or elongate disc ; anthers 4-celled. strongly recurved, hence lunate or 

 reniform ; central sterile mass conspicuous or essentially lacking. Perianth of 

 the pistillate flowers similar; staminodia anantherous. forming a more or less 

 coalesced 1-3-seriate ring ; ovary 8-celled ; ovules numerous; stigmas 8. cuneate, 

 sessile, umbraculiform. 



Often very large trees or epiphytic; leaves petioled. subcoriaceous ; latex 

 orange-colored or yellowish. 



Type: Clusia cochlanthera Vesque. 



Key to the Species of the Section Cochlanthera 



1. Stamens comparatively few, 20 or less. 



2. Stamens ca. 15, affixed to a broad disc in the center of which is a central 5-lobed 

 sterile glutinous staminodial mass ; lateral veins of the leaf ascending at 30-45° ; 

 leaf -blades lanceolate, 10-16 cm long. 1. C. cochlanthera. 



2. Stamens ea. 20, affixed to the rim of a thick-walled cylinder 5-6 mm high, the 



central mass lacking; lateral veins of the leaf ascending at 70-75°; leaf-blades 

 oldanceolate or obovate, 6-12 cm olng. 2. C. orthoneura. 



1. Stamens comparatively numerous, 35-100. 



3. Leaves with broadly winged clasping petioles; stamens about 35. 3. C. centricupula. 

 3. Leaves with slender non-winged petioles ; stamens 75-100. 



4. Branchlets terete; leaf -blades acute or abruptly acuminate at the apex. 



•4. C. lunanihera. 



•4. Branchlets sharply angled; leaf-blades obtuse at the apex. 5. C. cochlitheca. 



1. Clusia cochlanthera Vesque, Epharmosis 3: pi. 67. 1892. 



Cochlanthera lanceolata Choisy, Mem. Soc. Phys. Genev. 12: 426. pi. 3. 1851; not Clusia 

 lanceolata Cambess. in St.-Hil. pi. Bras. Mer. 1: 318. 1825; Vesque in DC. Monogr. 

 8: 141. 1893. 



