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MEMOIRS OF THE NEW YORK BOTANICAL GARDEN [ Vol. 8, No. 1 



flowered species. It -now seems quite impossible to maintain C. hartwegiana as 

 distinct from C. bracteata. The accumulation of herbarium material in the past 

 twenty years has furthermore served to weaken the supposed distinctions between 

 C. bracteata and several other of its allies. One may question the advisability of 

 maintaining such species as C. beckmanniana Hoer. (1909), C. scabriuscula 

 (H. B. K.) Hoer. (based on Thibaudia scabriuscula H. B. K., 1818), and C. miconi- 

 oides A. C. Smith (based on Thibaudia melastomoides H. B. K., 1818). The com- 

 plex of which these entities are a part (whether as species or taxa of lesser rank) 

 extends from Colombia to Bolivia. 



It should also be considered whether the C. bracteata complex can be specifi- 

 cally kept apart from C. strobilifera (H. B. K.) Hoer. (based on Thibaudia strobili- 

 fera H. B. K., 1818), to which I have already reduced many comparatively recent 

 specific concepts (i. e. to C. acuminata, op. cit. 503-505). Certainly I should now 

 refer to C. bracteata several of the Ecuadorian collections which in 1932 I cited 

 as C. acuminata. 



The problems of relationships in this group of Cavendishia can probably not 

 be solved without analysis in the field. In referring Dr. Camp's material to C. 

 bracteata I make use of the oldest specific epithet for the complex. 



Cavendishia strobilifera (H. B. K.) Hoer. Bot. Jahrb. 42: 279. 1909. 



Pichincha: Western slope of the cordillera, along the road from Quito to Sto. 

 Domingo de los Colorados, 7,000-10,000 ft. elev., Camp E-1720 (abundant shrub 

 0.3-2.5 m.; bracts crimson; hypanthium red; corolla crimson except for pale yellow 

 apex; ripe fruit purple- black, shining). 



As implied above in my discussion of C. bracteata (R. & P.) Hoer., the differ- 

 ences between that and C. strobilifera are not very convincing. Since the character 

 of corolla-pubescence is seen to be of little use, only the somewhat larger leaves 

 with definitely long-acuminate apices serve to keep the present species apart. 



Cavendishia capitata (Benth.) Hoer. Bot. Jahrb. 42: 279. 1909. 



Loja: "Oriente" Border, crest of the Cordillera de Zamofa, east of Loja, ca. 

 10,000 ft. elev., Camp E-102 (growing in soil; spreading shrub to 2 m. high; bracts 

 red; corolla white). Santiago-Zamora: Valley of the Rio Zamora, east of Loja, 

 ridge across river from village of Zamora, 6,500 ft. elev., Camp E-42, Eastern 

 slope of the cordillera, valley of the Rios Negro and Chupianza (on the trail from 

 Sevilla de Oro to Mendez), between Tres Ranchos and Chontal, 2,700-5,700 ft. 

 elev., Camp E-1557 (great mounds of canes on bank, probably starting as windfall; 

 leaves shining on both surfaces; bracts crimson; corolla white). 



The cited specimens agree excellently with the type, from the Province of 

 Loja. TJie collections discussed here represent the only additional material of the 

 species known to me. The species is characterized by its essentially glabrous 

 habit, comparatively large leaves and flowers, short pedicels with conspicuous 

 bracteoles, glandular calyx-limb, and comparatively long glandular-margined 

 calyx-lobes. The three cited collections permit some amplification of my earlier 

 description (Contr. U. S. Nat. Herb. 28: 507. 1932), as follows: 



Leaf-blades (9-)12-19 cm. long, (3.5- )4. 5-8. 5 cm. broad, 7- or 9-nerved from 

 near base but the outer 2 or 4 nerves often very inconspicuous; pedicels 2-5 mm. 

 long, sometimes with a few scattered minute spherical glands, bibracteolate 

 toward base, the bracteoles *linear-oblong, obtuse, 4.5-6 x 1-1.5 mm., glandular- 

 margined and sometimes glandular on both surfaces distally; calyx at anthesis up 

 to 13 mm. long and 9 mm. in diameter at apex, the tube angled, up to 7 mm. long, 

 the limb 3-6 mm. long, bearing superficial spherical glands without, the lobes 

 2.5-5 x 3-4 mm., glandular-margined, the sinuses rounded or obtuse; corolla 



