146 



MEMOIRS OF THE NEW YORK BOTANICAL GARDEN 



| VOL. 10 



This species is certainly related to A. discolor but it docs not have the tessellate 

 lower leaflet surfaces of that species and its leaves are golden-pubescent on the 

 under sides of the leaflets (at least in youth). The leaflets of both species are 

 glaucous on the under sides, but this characteristic is more marked in the new 

 species. The leaflets of A. aurea are quite different in shape from those of 

 A. elliptica (which is described below from this same mountain and to which 

 A. aurea shows some relationship). 



Aldina elliptica Cowan, sp. nov. 



Arbor 10-25 m alta, ramulis juvenilibus appresso-puberulis ; folia (1-) 3-5- 

 foliolata, petiolis (2.5-) 4^5 cm longis, appresso-puberulis, rachibus (0- I 2.5 

 6.5 cm longis, appresso-puberulis, petiolulis 5-7 mm longis, appresso-puberulis; 

 laminae 8.5-11.5 cm longae, 4-6 cm lata<\ ellipticae, basi rotundatae, apice 

 obtusae et persaepe leviter retusae, supra glabrae, nitidaeque, infra appresso- 

 puberulae glaucaeque, facie superiore costa leviter impressa, venulis obscuris, 

 infra costa valde salienti, venis primariis paulo elevatis, in paribus 10-12; inflo- 

 rescentiae terminates et in axillis foliorum superiorum, racemosae et paniculatae, 

 aureo-sericeae, pedicellis ca. 2 mm longis ; bracteae triangulares, 0.8 mm longae, 

 externe aureo-sericeae, caducae, bracteolis deciduis, triangularibus, 0.5 mm 

 longis, externe aureo-sericeis ; alabastri umbonati, ca. 12 mm longi, aureo-sericei, 

 calyce intus ad apicem paulo crispato-pilosulo ; petala 6, oblonga vel oblanceolata. 

 15 mm longa, 6-7 mm lata, glabra, alba; stamina ca. 40, glabra, 15 mm longa; 

 stylus 3-4.5 mm longus, glaber ; stigma punctiforme ; ovarium gynophorumque 

 sericeum, gynophoro ca. 3.5 mm longo ; fructus ignotus. 



Type Collection: B. Maguire & C. K. Maguire 35055 (holotype NY), "tree 

 10-25 m high. Fls. white. Dominant forest tree near Intermediate Camp, elev. 

 1000 m, Cerro Yutaje, Terr. Amazonas, Venezuela, Feb 4, 1953." 



This distinctive species is allied to A. discolor but may be separated by the 

 elliptic shape and rotund to obtuse tips of its leaflets and by its smaller petals ; 

 A. elliptica is characterized by evenly glaucous under sides of the leaflets, not 

 tessellate as in A. discolor. In this respect the new species is similar to A. aurea 

 from the same tepui ; the under sides of the leaflets of the latter species are 

 golden-pubescent and the leaflets are much different in shape. 



Aldina kunhardtiana Cowan. 



Tree 10, m. Fruit brown. Occasional along Rio Guainia between Maroa and Victorino, 

 dev. 125-135 m, Colombia, April 1953, Maguire 4' Wurdack 35714. 



When this species was originally described, the fruits were unknown; this 

 fruiting collection enables me to supply the following description: fruits 1-2- 

 seeded, oblate-globose, 4 cm long, 4.5 cm wide, each valve hemispheric, finely 

 velutinous, the pericarp ca. 8 mm thick. 



Aldina macrophylla Spruce ex Benth. 



Aldina yapacanensis Cowan, Mem. N. Y. Bot. Gard. 8: 108. 1953. 



The large number of recent collections of this species has made it necessary 

 to join one of my species with an earlier one, but there is some consolation in 

 the fact that the range of variation in the species is now much better understood. 

 There is not a single key character used to distinguish A. yapacanensis which 

 will now serve to identify it. The size of the flower-parts is especially variable 

 in flowers of different ages; petals and ovary stipes, which are relatively small 



