MULFORD EXPLORATION OF THE AMAZON VALLEY 



373 



lobes. Stylo iilit'oriii, sliuiitly thickened upward, the branches a 

 fourth of the total length, tlattened, eidarged at the summit, 

 puberulent. Very young fruit ovoid, coarsely 9- or 10-ribbed, 

 the ril)s rounded, and b(>aring the calyx-teeth and prominent 

 black disk. 



Rurrenabaque (San Buena Ventura), 1,000 feet, M. Carde- 

 nas, November 26, lf)21 {no. 1190). "A slender shrub, to 12 feet 

 high, in forest. " 



Basanacantha erythropoda 



(Fruiting plant.) Glal)rous, except the venation of the lower 

 surface of young leaves. Branchlets short, stout, terete, of a light 

 reddish-lirown color, mostly bearing a pair of pungent spines 

 at the end, the outer bark exfoliate. Stipules small, obscure 

 caducous. Leaves sessile, to 8 cm. long and 3 cm. broad, obovate, 

 with acuminate base and abruptly very short-pointed, acutish 

 summit, entire, thin, pale green, the midrib on the lower surface 

 minutely short-hairy when young, the slender secondaries about 

 6 or 8 on a side, forking above the middle, the branches looped 

 together at some distance from the margin. Flowers not seen. 

 Fruit terminal, solitary, the peduncle about 1 cm. long. Fruit 

 globose, to 2.5 cm. in diameter, purple, finely verrucose, bearing 

 the calyx-limb, its cylindric portion 2 mm. long, the 4 lobes 2 or 3 

 mm. long, spreading, acute. Seeds not numerous, strongly com- 

 pressed, blackish, obscurely triangular in outline, 6 to 8 mm. 

 broad. 



Huachi, 1,800 feet, 0. E. White, September 3, 1921 {no. lOOS). 

 The same species was collected by Dr. White without flowers or 

 fruit at Rurrenabaque, 1,000 feet, November 25, 1921, as the host 

 of a parasitic fungus {no. 1806). 



Basanacantha mucronata 



(Pistillate plant.) Nearly glabrous. Branchlets stout, te- 

 rete, divaricate, gray, the flowers densely crowded at the sum- 

 mit. Stipules 6 or 7 mm. long, and nearly as broad, imbricated, 

 brown, ovate, keeled, obtuse but with the end of the keel slightly 

 projecting. Petioles about 1 cul long, narrowly margined, slen- 

 der, the blades to 12 cm. long and 6 cm. broad, ovate with the 

 base abruptly contracted into a short and broad acumination 

 and abruptly short-acuminate at the summit, which is minutely 

 mucronate; entire, thin, bright-green on both sides. Secondaries 



