210 



MEMOIKS or THE NEW YORK BOTANICAL GARDEN 



Ovaries wholly distinct, obconic, the white terminal disk-like 

 body wider than the ovary. Stamens 6, coherent at the summit 

 into a disk-like whitish body which is vertically elongated, rhom- 

 boidal, about 4 mm. long and 2 mm. wide. 



Collected by Martin Cardenas, in copses on the pampas near 

 Lake Eogagna, 1,000 feet, November, 1921 (no. 1436) and at the 

 same place on November 7 {no. 1693). 



Species allied to X. hellehorifolia Schott. 



Taccarum caudatum 



Glabrous throughout. Petiole and peduncle arising together 

 from the summit of the corm; when young, both enclosed in a 

 broad obtuse membranaceous, and at length scarious sheath. 

 Petiole 8 dm. long, 3 cm. thick at the base, 1 cm. at the summit, 

 terete, green or purplish-blotched. Leaf peltate, 3-parted, the 

 divisions 3 dm. long and as broad or broader, sessile, bipinnate, 

 the pinnatifid pinnae separated by one or more small simple 

 ones. Ultimate segments very unequal, the lower smaller, lan- 

 ceolate or oblanceolate, acuminate and acute, entire, bright- 

 green, the midrib and secondaries impressed above, prominent 

 beneath, the latter 3 or 4 on each side. Relative length of pe- 

 duncle variable, usually about 2 dm. long, about half as thick as 

 the petiole, terete. Spathe convolute below, open above, extend- 

 ing to the base of the staminate portion of the spadix, thin, in- 

 flated, becoming scarious, and at length deciduous, broadly 

 obtuse at the summit, the base very oblique, one side dropping 

 much below the base of the spadix. Pistillate portion of spadix 

 1 dm. long, 1.5 cm. thick, densely flowered. Staminate portion 

 nearly 2 dm. long, 1 cm. thick at the base, tapering regularly to 

 the summit, not very densely flowered, deciduous or decaying 

 after flowering. 



Staminate Flowers. — Stamens 10, contiguous but distinct or 

 nearly so, borne on a stipe 1 cm. long, this thickened upward, 

 where it is irregularly sulcate, green or purplish, the summit ex- 

 panded into a fleshy receptacle with tumid summit slightly sur- 

 j^assing the anthers and of blackish color. Anthers oblong, ses- 

 sile, so crowded as often to be forced out of position, 2 mm. long, 

 the mass 4 mm. l)road. 



Pistillate Flou:ers. — Sessile, subtended by 4 or 5 staminodia, 

 which are appressed and about two-thirds the length of the 

 ovary, their lower portions pale, thin, 2.5 mm. broad and nearly 

 triangular in form, connate beneath the ovary, the upper portion 



