MAE 1961 MEMOIRS OF THE NEW YORK BOTANICAL GARDEN 10(4) : 1-87 



THE BOTANY OF THE GUAYANA HIGHLAND— PART IV (2) 



Continued from volume 10, number 2, page 37. 1 



Bassett Maguire and John J. Wurdack 

 and Collaborators 

 aquifoliaceae 



Ilex diospyroides Reiss. 



The hitherto unknown male plants of this species have been collected in the 

 lowlands adjacent to Cerro Sipapo {Maguire & Politi 28290, 28405, 28444), 

 vegetatively matching- closely the type collection ; the plicate leaves of the Spruce 

 material were probably due to the method of specimen preparation, since the new 

 collections have plane-pressed leaf blades. The male inflorescences are pluri(10- 

 20) -fasciculate in the leaf axils. 4-8 (-10) -flowered, subumbelliform, with pe- 

 duncles 3-8 mm long and pedicels 1 mm long. The flowers are 4-merous, with 

 glabrous to sparsely pulverulent calyx ea. 2.5 mm in diameter and subrotund 

 lobes ca. 1 mm in diameter which are apically sparsely papillose-ciliolate ; the 

 corolla lobes are oval, 2.1-2.3 X 1.9-2.1 mm, almost free, and glabrous. 



Ilex divaricata Mart, ex Reiss. 



All the natural Venezuelan savannas of the upper Rio Negro drainage seem 

 to be choice habitats for this rare species, hitherto known only from the type 

 collection of Martius from near Manaos. We have collected it at Maroa (36441), 

 Sabana El Venado (35615), Sabana Hechimoni (37646, 37670), Sabana Paci- 

 moni (37587, 37588,37589), and the Yapacana savannas (34553, 34554). Collec- 

 tions from the scrub forest near the savannas (Cano Cupueni, 36228; Yapacana 

 Carlo, 30507, 30795, 34616) tend to have proportionately narrower oblongish 

 leaves as compared with the open savanna and savanna ''tree island" popula- 

 tions; the savanna collections correspond more closely with the type collection. 

 We strongly suspect that both I. uleana Loes. and I. spruceana Reiss. var. 

 guainiensis Loes. (but not I. spruceana var. spruceana) are synonymous with 

 I. divaricata, the latter seeming to correspond with the scrub forest form and 

 the former to the savanna form ; however, this tentative synonymy is based on 

 Maebride's photographs and original descriptions and not on the necessary holo- 

 type examinations. 7. divaricata is known also from Amazonas, Brazil (Preto, 

 Matupiry. Rio Xegro, Froes 22815, 22843.) 



The female inflorescences of 7. divaricata are multi (3-10) -fasciculate on the 

 lateral spur branchlets, usually in the leaf axils, and 1-flowered. The pedicels 

 are about 1 mm long, the four ciliolate sepals each lXl-5 mm, and the petals 

 2 X 1-0 mm and sparsely erose-ciliolate. The fruiting pedicels are 3-5 mm long 

 and the 2-3-seeded mature fruit ea. 7-10 mm in diameter with smooth exocarp 

 and strongly flattened non-elevated radially striolate stigmas 1.3-1.5 mm in 

 diameter. 



1 The figures in this issue are numbered consecutively with those of the first section of 

 Part IV. 



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