62 



MEMOIRS OF THE NEW YORK BOTANICAL GARDEN 



| VOL. 10 



Filaments (in staminate flowers) 25 mm long, ligulate with a bidentate, alate 

 basal half, the wing 1 mm wide, villosulose on its inner surface. Gynoecium (in 

 staminate flowers) small, rudimentary, resting on and partly immersed in a short, 

 subglobose to broadly eylindric, puberulous gynophore; pistillate flowers not seen. 

 Fruits glabrous, oblate, retuse and minutely apieulate at the apex and deeply 

 cordate basally, 13-17 mm long, 15-25 mm wide. 



VENEZUELA: Bolivar: Kavanayen, alt. 1200 m, 28 Mar 1946, Lasser 1786 (US); 

 savanna between Kavanayen and base of Ptari-tepui, alt. 1200-1300 m, Maguin and Wurdack 

 33808 (NY) and 18 Nov 1944, Steyermarlc 60327 (F) ; between La Laja and Santa Teresit& 

 de Kavanayen, alt. 1220 m, 30 Nov 1944, Steyermarlc 60820 (F, holotype of Diomma fruticosa 

 Steyermark). 



Although 8. fruticosa was described from fruiting material only, it stands 

 apart quite distinctly from the remaining species on floral characteristics as well. 

 It differs in the distribution of the glandular punctae in the leaflets, in its shorter 

 pedicels, and in the form of the fruit. It is surely most nearly related to 8. uh i. 



2. Spathelia ulei (Engler ex Harms) Cowan & Brizicky, comb. nov. Fig. 1, b-d. 



Diomma ulei Engler ex Harms, Nat. Pflanzenfam. ed. 2. 19a: 400. 1931. 



Tree 6-10 m tall, the tip of the stem puberulous and minutely stellate- 

 pubescent but glabrescent. Leaves 20-28-foliolate, the leaflets with glandular 

 punctae restricted to the margins, the petioles somewhat canaliculate basally but 

 otherwise terete, 17 cm long, puberulous, the rachis 45-60 cm long, terete, 

 puberulous, the leaflets subopposite to alternate, glabrous, or puberulous on the 

 upper surface of the costa, the petiolules 4—6 mm long, puberulous, the blades of 

 the lower leaflets smaller, ca. 5-6.5 mm long, 2.5-3 cm wide, oval to oval-oblong, 

 the blades of the upper leaflets larger and oblong or lanceolate-oblong, 14—17 cm 

 long, 3.5-4 cm wide, the base of all the leaflets slightly to very markedly in- 

 equilateral, the lower side acute and the upper rounded-obtuse, the apex abruptly 

 acute to acuminate with the tip blunt, the venation plane to impressed on the 

 upper leaflet surfaces, plane to salient beneath. Inflorescence 10-15 cm long, the 

 axis puberulous, the bracts minute, the pedicels 4—5.5 mm long (10-12 mm in the 

 original description), puberulous. Sepals oval, obtuse, entire to emarginate, 3 mm 

 long, 2 mm wide, glabrous except ciliolate ; petals elliptic, 5-6 mm long, 4 mm 

 wide, glabrous to sparingly ciliolate. Filaments (in pistillate flowers) 3.5-4 mm 

 long, ligiilate, linear or subulate or with the basal half somewhat expanded 

 laterally, sparingly villose basally on the inner surface. Gynoecium glabrous, the 

 stigma bifid, each half capitate, the style about 0.3-0.5 mm long, columnar, the 

 ovary oblong-ovate to broadly ovate, ca. 2.5-4 mm long, 2-3 mm wide, the base 

 broad and with 4 (5 ?) bulbous sparsely pubescent nectaries. Fruit broadly ovate, 

 acuminate, 2.5-3 cm long, 2-3 cm broad. 



VENEZUELA: Bolivar: Mt. Roraima, between Rondon Camp and base of escarpment, 

 alt. 2040-2255 m, 30 Sep 1944, Steyermarlc 58982 (F, NY) ; Ptari-tepui, alt. 1800-1900 m, 

 2 Nov 1944, Steyermarlc 59798 (F) ; base of Mt. Roraima, Vie 8646 (G, K, type collection of 

 Diomma ulei Engler ex Harms). » 



Like most of the other species of this alliance in Guayana, 8. ulei is poorly 

 known, but it is perhaps most nearly related to 8. fruticosa. The latter differs 

 in the shape of its fruit, in the length of its pedicels, and in the distribution of 

 the glandular punctae in the leaflets. 



In the fragment envelope of the Geneva specimen of the type collection there 

 is a young fruit which is quite different in form from those described by Harms 



