MULFOKD EXPLUKATIOjST OF THE AMAZON VALLEY 



341 



]iomis|)lioi-ie-turhiiiat(', tlio trniieate summit bearing- a marginal 

 recurved meuihi'anous aniuilus. Style exserted, filiform, bilid, 

 the branches elongate, liliform, strongly and widely recurved. 

 Fruit (only partially mature) closely enclosed in the base of the 

 calyx, which is slightly contracted above it, hemispheric-turbi- 

 iiate, the annulus much expanded and recurved so as to conceal 

 the upper part of the fruit, and coriaceous, shining, with concave 

 center. Fruit 2-sulcate and 2-seeded, occasionally 3-sulcate. 



A tall ])erennial tomentellate herb, of the habit of Aegiphila, 

 with opposite leaves and small, peduncled, densely flowered com- 

 pound cymes in the axils. 



Pseudaegiphila breviflora 



Tomentellate throughout, the indumentum extremely short 

 and dense, brownish, except for the deep-green upper leaf-sur- 

 faces. Stems tall and stout, quadrangular and sulcate. Leaves 

 1 to 2 dm. long, 3 to 6 cm. broad, oblanceolate, acute, gradually 

 tapering into a margined petiole, ol)soletely sinuate-serrate, the 

 teeth minutely pointed; thin, the scanty venation very slender, 

 scarcely prominent on either side, the secondaries 8 or 10 on 

 each side, lightly falcate, connected by a very few very fine terti- 

 aries. Cymes solitary in the axils, on peduncles 1 to 2 cm. long, 

 compound, 1.5 to 3 cm. broad, very dense. Calyx nearly 5 mm. 

 long, the obovoid tube about 2 mm. long, the lobes short and 

 broad, obtuse. Corolla little exceeding the calyx, the slender 

 tube half as long as the broadly oval obtuse lobes, the stamens 

 attached below the base of the lobes, equabng or exceeding them 

 in length. Style filiform, the recurved filiform branches about 

 half its length. Upper third of fruit covered by the recurved 

 coriaceous, lustrous light-brown appendage. 



Santa Ana de Yacuma, 700 feet, M. Cardenas, March 4, 1922 

 {no. 16, special). This peculiar plant exhibits several characters 

 of great interest. No sinular carpellary appendage is known to 

 the writer, and its morphological relations are difficult to under- 

 stand. The irregularity in the lobing of the corolla and the 

 great diversity in stamen-characters suggests abnormal develop- 

 ment of some kind, possibly hybridity, a suggestion that is 

 strengthened by the obvious resemblance to both Aegiphila and 

 Callicarpa. 



Vitex pseudolea 



Petioles and midribs minutely downy. Petiole very slender, 

 somewhat shorter than the middle leaflet. Leaflets 5, the slender 



