MULFOKD KXI'LORATION OF THE AMAZON VALLEY 



331 



ASCLEPIADACEAE 



Tassadia rhombifolia 



]\[iiiut('ly downy, tlio leaf-surfaces niiiuitely papillose, the 

 papillae bearing extremely short hairs. Bi-anchlets very slen- 

 der. Petioles 2 or 3 mm. long. Blades (only the small upper 

 ones seen) to 3 em. long and more than half as wide, rhomboid- 

 ally ovate or oval with acute base and very abruptly short- 

 pointed apicnlate sunnnit, thickish and rigid, yellowish-green, 

 the venation obscure and anastomosing to form a narrow margi- 

 nal band. Midrib bearing one or two minute glands near the 

 base on the upper surface. FloAver-branchlets very short, bear- 

 ing the cymes somewhat crowded, the cymes 1.5 cm. broad, about 

 10-or 12-flowered. Mature flower-bud 4 or 5 mm. long, enlarged 

 at base and summit, obtuse. Calyx campanulate, lobed about 

 half way, the lobes obtuse. Corolla-tube urceolate, a])out a third 

 the length of the lobes, which are 3 nnu. long. Crown about as 

 long as the corolla-tube, a little longer than the stamens, the 

 ligules narrow but obtuse. Beak of the stigma about half as 

 long as the corolla-lobes, distinctly 2-cleft. 



A small twig, bearing three leaves and several cymes was col- 

 lected on the Mulford Expedition, without locality or date. It 

 may bear the number 208A. It was jjrobably secured in the 

 vicinity of Canamina, at 3,000 or 4,000 feet altitude. 



Tassadia Hutchisoniana 



Appearing glabrous, but with an extremely tine and minute 

 puberulence. Stems slender, terete, finely striate. Petioles 

 about 5 mm. long, broad, frequently twisted or curved, the 

 margins involute. Blades to 1 dm. long and 4 cm. wide, oblance- 

 olate, with acute or obtusish base and very abruptly acuminate 

 sunmiit, the acumination acutely mucronate; thick and rigid, 

 deep-green but slightly gray above, pale gray-green beneath, 

 bearing a pair of small brown glands at the base of the midrib 

 on the upper surface, the venation obscure, the secondaries 8 or 

 10 on each side, forking a little l^eyond the middle. Panicles 

 sparingly branched, the branches slender, the cymes not approxi- 

 mate, mostly less than 1 cm. broad, mostly 5- to 7-flowered. 

 ^lature flower-buds 2.5 mm. long, lanceolate, obtuse, the basal 

 half somewhat enlarged. Calyx-lol)es nearly as long as the cor- 

 olla-tube, narrowly lanceolate, acute. Corolla-tube urceolate, 

 about a third as long as the narrow lobes. Divisions of the crown 



