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MEMOIRS OF THE NEW YORK BOTANICAL GARDEN 



| VOL. 10 



11. Calyptranthes pulchella DC. Prodr. 3: 257. 1828. 



A small tree, 5-12 m high, 4-8 em in diameter, the inflorescence, young 

 branchlets, vegetative buds, and lower leaf-surfaces more or less strigose with 

 sessile dibrachiate rufous hairs; branchlets 2-winged, the wings arising just above 

 the axil at one node, and terminating between the leaf-bases at the node above ; 

 leaves cuneate, obovate or broadly elliptic, mostly less than 5 cm long, usually 

 rounded or very obtuse at the apex (sometimes acute but blunt-tipped, or broadly 

 and shortly acuminate), acute or cuneate at the base, the margins decurrent on 

 the stout channeled petiole 0.7-1 mm thick, 2-3 mm long; midvein flat or sulcate 

 above, prominent beneath; lateral veins very slender and scarcely apparent, 8-12 

 pairs with several intermediates; marginal vein like the laterals, 0.5-1 mm from 

 the margin ; leaves dull in drying, paler beneath ; inflorescence usually of slender 

 paired 5- to 20-flowered panicles 5 cm long or less, the flowers sessile along the 

 branchlets and at the tips, or the lower at the tips of short lateral branchlets; 

 bracts and bracteoles deciduous ; petals none. 



The type of this species came from Minas Gerais, Brazil, where it was col- 

 lected by Martius. Berg in 1859 described var. parviflora, based on a colled ion 

 by Spruce from the Rio Vaupes. More recently AmshoffShas tentatively referred 

 to this species two collections made by Magnire in Suriname (Fl. Surin. 3: 63. 

 1951), and McVaugh has identified certain collections from Amazonian Peru as 

 belonging to the same species (Pieldiana Bot. 29: 178. 1956). All the above are 

 alike in having winged branchlets, small obtuse cuneate or obovate leaves, and a 

 short, slender, and few-flowered inflorescence. All are pubescent at least to a 

 very slight degree with short reddish dibrachiate hairs. It is by no means certain, 

 however, that all these plants are conspecific, and more collections for study are 

 needed. The several plants which have been referred to C. pulchella may be 

 characterized as follows: 



C. pulchella var. pulchella. 



Branchlets winged, the wings probably 0.3 mm high; leaves glabrous, 1.5-2 

 cm wide, 2.5-4 cm long, 2-2.5 times as long as wide, the dots on the lower surface 

 apparently 10-15 per mm 2 (F. M. Neg. 19897) ; inflorescence 2.5-3.5 cm long, 

 sparsely antrorsely strigose; buds 2.7-3.5 mm long; stamens about ?50, about 

 4 mm long. Type seen at M, 1954. 



C. pulchella (Guianas). 



Wings of branchlets 0.2-0.3 mm high ; pubescence general, or mostly confined 

 to the inflorescence (sometimes uniformly distributed in inflorescence and sparse 

 on the lower leaf-surface, as in Maguire 24714, or almost wanting except at the 

 base of the flower-bud, as in Maguire 32295) ; leaves variable in shape (from 

 nearly elliptic to cuneate-obovate) , 1-1.7 cm wide, 2-3.5 cm long, twice as long 

 as wide, distinctly punctate above, the dots on the lower surface 6-7 per mm 2 ; 

 inflorescence variable [ in Maguire 24714 5- to 9-flowered, the peduncle 1 cm long, 

 the lateral flowers sessile, or 1-3 on short branchlets 4-5 mm long; in Maguire 

 24267, 32295 the flowers 3 (or 5), sessile or pedicellate, the peduncle 1-2.5 cm 

 long] ; style 3-4 mm long ; stamens about 50 ; anthers 0.3 mm long. 



There is much variation among the Guiana specimens which have been as- 

 signed to this species, and the distinction, if any, between these and the type of 

 the species cannot be made. The type strongly resembles Maguire 32295 in leaf- 

 shape and in pubescence. It may be that more than one variety is represented in 

 the Guianas. 



