1963] 



BOTANY OF THE GUAYAXA HIGHLANDS PART V 



71 



Systemonodaphne mezii Kostermans Meded. Bot. Mus. Utrecht 46 : 105. 1938. 



Systemonodaphne geminiflora (Meissner) Mez in Jahrb. Bot. Gart. Berlin 5: 79. 1889, 

 quoad Martin 45. 



Type. French Guiana, Martin 45 (holotype, fl. B, fragm. NY). 

 Vernacular Name. Louro (Cowan). 



Distribution. Small tree or shrub from 5 to 6 m, bearing hermaphrodite 

 flowers, and occurring in heavily forested hills up to 300 m, in northern Brazil, 

 Suriname, and French and British Guiana. BRAZIL. Territorio do Amapa: 

 occasional in forest of slopes of Macaco Ore Body, Cowan 38167 (fr. NY), fre- 

 quent in forest on slopes to Igarape Sentinela, Curuca Ore Body, 38182 (fr. NY). 

 BRITISH GUIANA. Essequibo Basin, in dense forest along Orono Creek near 

 mouth, lat. about 1° 35' N, A. C. Smith 2667 (fr. NY). 



A little-collected genus, known to me in the flowering stage only from a 

 fragment of the type-collection. It is characterized by rather slender branchlets 

 bearing chartaceous, elliptic, obtusely acuminate leaves usually not more than 

 10-12 cm in length, with a prominent, yellowish midrib. The fruits of the numbers 

 cited above are rather more ellipsoid than ovoid, as described by Kostermans 

 apparently from the Poiteau specimens he cites which I have not seen. 



Persea steyermarkii 16 C. K. Allen, Jour. Arn. Arb. 26 : 286. 1945. 



Type. Guatemala, J. A. Steyermark 37061 (holotype: F, fragment at A). 

 Vernacular Name. Aguacate de montana. 



Distribution. The mountain slopes of Guatemala and El Salvador, 1300- 

 4000 m. VENEZUELA. Amazonas: Rio Atabapo, common at edge of small laja, 

 Rio Temi 1 hour below Yavita, 100 m, Maguire 29342. 



Until the above collection was made, this species was found only in Guatemala 

 and El Salvador. With its rather limited distribution it was surprising to find it 

 collected in Venezuela and to have it noted as being common in this locale. A close 

 relative of Persea americana, the common avocado, P. steyermarkii probably has 

 an edible fruit and was carried at some time by man along the water route up the 

 Orinoco to its present location much as the more widely distributed P. americana 

 has been. 



Persea fastigiata Kopp, sp. nov. 



Arbuscula 8-10 m ; ramuli angulares, moderate strigulosi, cortice sine odore ; 

 petioli 1-2 cm longi, canaliculati, crassi, dense strigulosi vel strigosi; laminae 

 12-15 (-20) cm longae, 4-5.5 (-8) cm latae, coriaceae, oblanceolatae vel raro 

 ellipticae, apice acuto usque ad acuminatum, basi cuneata, superficie superiore 

 glabra, inferiore sparse strigulosa (sericea in var. sericeae), marginibus leviter 

 usque ad valde revolutos, costa supra impressa, infra prominenti, venis primariis 

 (8-13 jugis) ex angulo 55-60° divergentibus, supra impressis, infra prominent- 

 ibus, venulis utrinque obscuris. Inflorescentia sessilis vel subsessilis, angusta, 

 axillaris et subterminalis, longitudine tertiam partem foliorum subtendentium 

 aequans, multiflora, paniculata, strigosa (pilosa in var. pilosae), ramulis erectis; 

 pedunculi 0-0.5 cm longi, crassi, strigosi vel strigulosi, rachide brevi, adpressa, 

 fulvo-pubescenti (longioriter pilosa in var. pilosae) ; pedicelli 2-3 mm longi, 

 dense f ulvo-sti igosi ; flores 4-5 mm longi; perianthii segmenta exteriora 2 mm 



is The genus Persea contributed by Lucille E. Kopp. 



