1958] 



THE BOTANY OF THE GUAYAXA HIGHLAND PART III 



7 



first cephalar bracts 7-9 mm long, acute, mucronulate; campos and 

 chapadas, Matto Grosso, Minas Gerais, Goyaz, southern Para, Brazil. 



10. A. poarchon. 



13. Flowers commonly 2-4 per spike; bracts of the scape 1.0-1.5 (2.0) cm 

 long, the first cephalar bracts 8-12 mm long, aeutish, bluntly short- 

 productate; savannas and campos, range of the preceeding, and Ama- 

 zonas, Brazil ; Vaupes, Colombia ; and Amazonas and Bolivar, Vene- 

 zuela. 11. A. pulchella. 

 12. Leaves serrulate-ciliate ; bracts of the scapes 4.0 cm long; cumbre of 



Cerro Neblina, Amazonas, Venezuela. 13. A. ciliata. 



II. Leaves acicular, subulate or triquetrous, 0.5-0.8 mm wide; lower cephalar 

 bracts exceeding the spike; savannas, drainage of the Rios Atabapo and 

 Guainfa, Colombia and Venezuela. 12. A. aeicularis. 



1. Scapes naked, without bracts (except the subtending basal ones), or scapes lacking. 

 14. Plants with an evident scape. 



15. Plants strongly perennial with an obvious rhizome; scapes relatively coarse, 

 12-18 cm high, ca. 1 mm in diameter; outer cephalar bracts 10-15 mm long, 

 conspicuously and bluntly productate, commonly exceeding the spike; spike 

 3-4-flowered, 10-12 mm high; Yapacana Savannas, Amazonas, Venezuela. 



14. A. ebracteafa. 



15. Plants weakly perennial; scapes 2-12 cm high, 0.5-0.8 mm in diameter; outer 

 cephalar bracts 5-8 mm long, subhyaline, acute or obtusish, commonly shorter 

 than the spike; spike 2-6-flowered, 5-8 mm high; Kaieteur Savannas and low 

 altitude areas, Atlantic Coast from British Guiana to Brazil; the upper Orinoco, 



and Rio Negro, Venezuela, Colombia, and Brazil. 15. A. americana. 



14. Plants escapose. 



16. Leaves strongly nodulose, triquetrous, 0.8 mm broad, obtuse, commonly with 

 a short mucro, essentially nerveless; capsule acute, glabrous; west sandy flats 

 or savannas at low altitudes, Suriname, British Guiana, lower Rio Paragua 

 (Orinoco) drainage, Venezuela. 16. A. lcUlipu. 



16. Leaves not at all nodulose, plane, 1-2 (4.5) mm broad, very acute, conspicuously 

 aristate, often strongly nerved ; capsule obtuse, apically papillose ; higher alti- 

 tudes on Roraima Sediments, Guayana. 17. A. acaxlis. 



1. Abolboda grandis Griseb. 



As indicated by the following key, A. grandis is an exceedingly variable 

 species, the three recognized minor variants being populations that are largely 

 the expression of size and vigor from which one variety passes into another. 

 Geographical and ecological arrangement, with the obviously implied genetic 

 considerations, lend persuasion that at least three infraspecific populations be 

 given taxonomic place. 



Key to the Varieties of Abolboda grand is 



1. Leaves usually (12)15-25, (8)10-15(20) cm long, (5)8-15(18) mm broad; scapes 

 2-several, 2.0-5.0(6.0) dm high, the bracts commonly 2 pairs, rarely 3; inflorescence 

 depressed-globose, 15-18(20) mm high; sepals 15-18 mm long; at low altitudes, 

 Coastal Guiana ; lower Amazon and Rio Negro Basins. var. grandis. 



1. Leaves usually 10-20, 20-50 cm long, 15-20 mm broad; scapes 1-several, 5-10 dm 

 high, commonly with 3 or 4, rarely 2 pairs of bracts; spike ovoid or subglobose, 

 20-25 mm high; sepals 12-16 mm long; at high altitudes on sandstone sediments of 

 Guayana. var. gu-ayanensis. 



1. Leaves usually 10-20(25), 20-50 cm long, 10-15(18) mm broad; scapes 2-several, 

 6-15(20) dm high commonly with 2-4 pairs of bracts, spikes ovoid, subglobose, or 

 oblong-globose, 25-40 mm high; sepals 15-20 mm long; at high altitudes, on sand- 

 stone sediments in Venezuelan Amazonas. var. rigida. 



Abolboda grandis var. grandis. 



Abolboda grandis Griseb. Linnaea 21: 281. 1848. 



Abolboda grandis var. minor Spruce ex Malme, Bih. Sv. Vet.-Akad. Handl. 26: (Afd. 



III. No. 19) :14. 1901. 



