28 



MEMOIRS OF THE NEW YORK BOTANICAL GARDEN 



[ Vol. 8 y No. 1 



exigua Mez that I am proposing it as new with considerable misgiving, especially 

 as my knowledge of P. exigua is confined to the description and a photograph. 

 However, the lack of lanate indument on the leaf-apices, the pale color of the 

 indument of the inflorescence and the much larger sepals would indicate that P. 

 pygmaea probably merits specific segregation,, At the same time this close rela- 

 tionship indicates an Ecuadorian origin for the heretofore doubtful P. exigua. 



Pitcairnia aphelandraeflora Lem. 



Santiago-Zamora ("Oriente"); plants from heavy rhizomatous base, arching 

 over streams, single non-branched stems, to 3 m., inflorescence bracts crimson 

 tipped with green, becoming green in fruit, perianth crimson; growing only at very 

 margin of swift-running mountain streams where subject to frequent torrents of 

 mountain floods, as Salix in northern hemisphere, along narrow floodplain of Rib 

 Itzintza, Cordillera Cutucu, ca. 2° 40' S., 78° W., 3,500-3,700 ft., E-1238. The 

 petals are appendaged in the above material while in the type they are naked, but 

 this variation has been recorded in a number of species in Pitcairnia already. 

 The apparently unique character of naked ovules is shown distinctly by both 

 collections. 



Pitcairnia campii L. B. Smith, sp. nov. Fig. 1, j, k. 



Florifera 3 m. alta (! Camp); vaginis fcliorum 2 dm. longis, amplis, densissime 

 adpresseque brunneo-lanosis, basi-atro-castaneis, laminis dimorphis, alteris valde 

 reductis, linearibus, 2 mm. latis, spinis uncinatis atris laxe armatis, alteris cum 

 vaginis et petiolo lato canaliculato serrato ad 3 m. longis (! Camp), arcuatis, 

 linearibus, longe acuminatis, 5 cm. latis, basi excepta integris; scapo erecto, 

 basi 2 cm. diametro, pallide flocculoso; scapi bracteis erectis, densissime im- 

 bricatis, ellipticis, pallide flocculosis, infimis longe acuminatis et ad apicem 

 versus spinis atris subdense armatis, supremis acutis, integris; inflorescentia 

 simplicissima, gracile cylindrica, multiflora, 2-3 cm. diametro, petalis exceptis 

 pallide flocculosa; bracteis florigeris erectis vel apice paulo divergentibus, 

 supremis scapi similibus, ad 6 cm. longis sepala bene superantibus; floribus sub- 

 sessilibus; sepalis anguste oblongis, late acutis apiculatisque, 28 mm. longis, 

 ecarinatis; petalis nudis, 7 cm. longis, fulgide aureis (! Camp); staminibus in- 

 clusis, ovario 5/6 supero; ovulis longe caudatis. 



Junction of Guayas, Canar, Chimborazo and Bolivar: on steep banks and 

 cliffs, foothills of the western cordillera near the village of Bucay, 1,000-1,250 

 ft., June 8-15, 1945, Camp E-3661. 



In Mez's key in the Pflanzenreich Pitcairnia campii would fall next to the 

 Mexican P. imbricata t from which it differs in its great size and in its serrate 

 lower 'scape -bracts. 



Pitcairnia heterophylla (Lindl.) Beer. 



Chimborazo: plants usually leafless at this season (June 19), corolla crimson; 

 on dry rock-faces, canon of the Rio Chanchan from Naranjapata to below Huigra, 

 2,000-3,000 ft., E-3888. 



Pitcairnia pungens HBK. 



Chimborazo-Canar border: on rocky outcrops; lower bracts reddish, upper nitid, 

 green, nigrescent -tipped, calyx yellow, margins and tip red-orange, corolla crim- 

 son, filaments pale crimson; anthers yellow; in Quichua: "Urcii-huicundo" (Urcu— 

 mountain; huicundo — name applied to this general type of plant); western escarp- 

 ment, near El Tambo, 10,000-11,500 ft., E-4085. Canar: floral parts deep salmony- 

 scarlet; between Suscal and Chontamarca, north rim of the valley of the Rio de 

 Canar, E-2871. Azuay: roots, ground and cooked, used as diuretic; plants branched 

 at base, bracts green, with purple bases, perianth scarlet, anthers yellow, "Quinde 



