220 



MEMOIRS OF THE XKW YORK BOTANICAL GARDEX 



Leaves (only the upper ones seen) 2 to 3 dm. long, 6 to 10 em. 

 wide, regularly or somewhat inequilaterally obovate, the sununit 

 abruptly continued into a very acute, straight or oblique point 

 about 2 cm. long. Blades thin and flaccid, ciliate, sparsely pilose 

 on the upper surface, finely many-nerved, the slender nerves 

 sharply prominent on both sides, falcate and connivent at the 

 summit. Spike short and dense, closely sessile, the broad fer- 

 ruginous bracts closely imbricate, some with slightly foliaceous 

 mucronate summit. Flower 7 cm. long, the oblique mouth nearly 

 5 cm. broad, the campanulate, somewhat ventricose tube nearly 

 as wide as the mouth, white, the limb brownish below, brilliant- 

 purple above, the lobes nearly 2 cm. long, and broader, with 

 rounded summit. Stamens 2, both with two-celled anthers, one 

 reaching a little above the middle of the flower, the other a little 

 higher and distant from the first, the anthers oblong, with 

 rounded summits and cordate base and ciliate inner margins. 

 The rounded summit of the anther appears to consist of an ap- 

 pendage. Pistil not seen. As we found but one specimen of this 

 strange plant, and this has but one flower, I am unwilling to 

 destroy the latter, which is very beautiful, by dissection. In 

 habit and form of flower, the plant is a perfect Costus, but its 

 stamen-characters mark it as a distinct genus, which I can 

 scarcely describe from such scanty material. 



Rurrenabaque, 1,000 feet, M. Cardenas, November 26, 1921 

 {no. 1851). 



Maran'tace.ve 

 Calathea bracteosa 



(Eucalathea.) Glabrous, the stems tall, leafy. Petiole (but 

 one leaf seen) nearly a meter long, stout, the base broadly di- 

 lated and complanate to serve as a sheath from which the pe- 

 duncle emerges. Blade 7 dm. long, 3 dm. wide, oval, with rounded 

 base and summit, thin. Peduncles 2 in the axil of the leaf, be- 

 tween them arising a stout rachis 8 cm. long, bearing at its sum- 

 mit an aphyllous sheath similar to the leaf-sheath, and giving 

 origin to 3 peduncles similar to those below, but shorter, and a 

 continuation of the rachis, (the remainder of which has been 

 broken off). Peduncles flabellately arranged, slender, 1 to 2 dm. 

 long, subtended by coriaceous bracts about half the length of the 

 peduncles. Spikes compressed, 6 to 12 cm. long, about 3 cm. \vdde, 

 composed of distichous, densely imbricated coriaceous bracts, 

 about 1.5 cm. long and of greater breadth, with broadly rounded 

 or subtruncate sunmiit. Flowers light-purple, sessile in the 



