134 



MEMOIRS OF THE NEW YORK BOTANICAL GARDEN 



[VOL. 10 



2. Thysanostemon fanshawei Maguire, sp. nov. Fig. 61, A-E. 



Arbor parva, latice flavido; ramulis tenuibus, laevibus, castaneis, internodiis 

 evidenter 2-3 cm longis ; f oliis oppositis, laminis subcoriaceis vel coriaceis oblongis 

 vel ellipticis vel oblanceolato-oblongis, vulgo 12-15 cm longis, 4.0-4.5 cm latis, 

 costa prominentia venis lateralibus horizontaliter parallelis prominulis, evidenter 

 nigro-punctatis, apice abrupte acuminato, conduplicato, basi obtusa aliquantum 

 vel valde conduplicata, petiolis 12-15 mm longis, ca. 2.5 mm crassis, aliquantis 

 quadrangularibus, in dorso anguste alatis, transverse tessellatis ; pedunculo laevi, 

 subclavato ca. 2 cm longo ; sepalis marcescentibus ; floribus non visis ; f ructibus 

 ovoideo-conicis, abrupte oblique acuminatis, baccatis immaturis, maturis sic- 

 cantibus, pericarpiis laevibus caperatis tenue chartaceis ; seminibus paucis, 

 possibiliter 3-4, oblique ovoideis, saepe compressis, ca. 3.0-3.5 cm longis, 2.5 cm 

 latis, testa laevi tenui indurata. 



Type. Tree 30 feet high, 4 inch diam, from damp places in Kakaralli-Clump 

 Wallaba forest, mile 107, Bartiea-Potaro Road, British Guiana, 11 Nov 1943, 

 D. B. Fanshawe 1446 (F.D. 4182) (holotype K, isotype Georgetown Forest 

 Dept.). 



The collector, D. B. Fanshawe, a keen observer and competent botanist, in 

 field notes described the fruit as "ovoid conical, slightly twisted, pale green — 

 pericarp soft — seeds 8, oblong, rounded on one side, br., embedded in pith." In 

 the two fruits before me the indications are that no more than four mature seed 

 could be fitted into the fruit shell. 



There is little doubt as to the immediate relationship of Thysanostemon 

 fanshawei with T. pakaraimae, although for the first, flowers are not available, 

 and for the second no fruiting material has been seen. Both are represented only 

 by the type collections. The distinguishing and differentiating features employed 

 here are foliar, but the distinction is unmistakable. 



5. Symphonia Linnaeus f . Suppl. 49, 302. 1781. 



Morotwbea Aubl., PI. Guiane 778, in part. 1755. 

 Type species. Symphonia globulifera L. f. 



Perrier (Flore de Madagascar, Fam. 136. pps. 13-31. 1951) accounts for 

 sixteen species in the flora of Madagascar, including the African 8. globulifera. 

 Chief morphologic differences and criteria upon which the sixteen taxa are dis- 

 tinguished are (1) size and form of leaf, (2) incidence of anthers per phalange, 

 (3) siz^of flower and arrangement of inflorescence. Although there is insufficient 

 material from Madagascar in American herbaria upon which to form judgment, 

 it does seem, from M. Perrier 's account, that differentiation of Madagascar el- 

 ements of the genus may have proceeded more actively than that of the American 

 congener, and in Madagascar may well indeed have developed a number of con- 

 sistently and discretely established species. This development does not seem to 

 have obtained in America. 



It is true that Symphonia globulifera in the Neotropics is a plastic and 

 variable species, and that leaf form, flower size, and inflorescence size extend 

 through considerable metric* range. Differences in size or texture of the leaves 

 are insensibly confluent and extreme, and do not seem to be correctable with 

 any geographic or ecologic segregation or isolation, but rather flow generally 

 throughout the entire population. 



For these reasons no infrageneric or infraspecific taxa are herein recognized 

 at this time. 



