MULFOKD EXPLORATION OV THE AMAZON VALLEY 



323 



Apocynaceae 



Aspidosperma rigida 



(Fruitiiif? specimen.) J^ower leaf-surfaces minutely papil- 

 lose. Branchlets rigid, flexuous, irregularly and sharply angled, 

 shar])ly nodose at the scars of the fallen leaves. Leaves to 1.5 

 dm. long and 5 cm. broad, oblong or oval, very abruptly con- 

 tracted into a stout petiole about 5 mm. long, and similarly con- 

 ti-acted at the summit into a short acute acumination, entire, 

 thick and rigid, of a dull pale-green color, the midrib narrowly 

 and shar])ly grooved above, strongly prominent beneath, the sec- 

 ondaries 10 or 12 on each side, not prominent, slender, widely 

 spreading and lightly curved. Panicle terminating a branchlet 

 of the preceding year, lax, in the type specimen bearing only two 

 mature fruits but with numerous scars where other fruits or 

 flowers have fallen. Fruits monocarpellary, stipitate, blackish. 

 Stipe of the larger one 3 mm. long and broad, the body nearly 3 

 cm. long and broad, its dorsal outline about two thirds of a circle, 

 the ventral margin straight or nearly so, and 2 cm. long. ISIargin 

 of fruit not thickened, the surface finely papillose and wrinkled. 

 Seeds to 2.5 cm. long, and 2 cm. broad, oval with one edge less 

 curved, the body brown, 17 mm. long by 13 mm. broad, entirely 

 surrounded by the blackish wing, of unequal breadth and bear- 

 ing an intramarginal line, the margin entire. 



In the Bopi River Valley, 3,000 feet, //. H. Rushy, September 

 12, 1921 {no. 593). "A shrub, in the edge of the forest." 



Aspidosperma sp. 



These interesting specimens consist of mature fruits, with 

 their contained seeds, picked up beneath the trees, and seedling 

 plants, w^ith cotyledons attached. Some young and very tender 

 leaves are present. Since part of their leaves are attached to 

 the seedlings, it is probable that all of them have so originated. 



Mature carpels woody, stipitate, the stipe 3 or 4 cm. long, 

 nearly 1 cm. thick, the valves to 1.4 dm. long, 1.1 dm. broad, the 

 dorsal outline nearly semicircular, the ventral moderately 

 curved, the style-scar below the summit, connected Avith the sum- 

 mit of the dorsal curve by a straight or slightly concave line 2.5 

 or 3 cm. long. Carpel strongly flattened, with the entire margin 

 strongly and broadly thickened, the surface very densely and 

 finely tomentellate and flabellately many-nerved, blackish or 

 deep-chocolate-colored in the dried state. Seed, including the 



