1953] 



BOTANY OF THE GUAYANA HIGHLAND 



141 



The Paru plants are considerably more tomentose on the lower leaf-surface than 

 those of Duida but differ in no important respect. The relationship of this plant is 

 just as mysterious as when it was first described about twenty years ago. It is 

 the only member of the family, so far as known to me, which combines a totally 

 inferior ovary with a dehiscent capsular fruit. Naturally the dehiscence must af- 

 fect the hypanthial wall, and it has now been noted that dehiscence is by ten 

 longitudinal clefts, two in each of the furrows between the wings of the hypanthium. 



Leandra dichotoma (Don) Cogn. 



Shrub up to 3 m. tall, mixed wet mountain forest, Savanna Camp to north es- 

 carpment, Cerro Sipapo, altitude 1400 m., Maguire & Politi 27861; chiefly in the 

 mountains, British Honduras to Bolivia. 



Leandra polyadena Lie. 



Very viscose shrub, Camp Savanna, Cerro Sipapo, Maguire & Politi 27565; 

 endemic to the Pacaraima fountains. 



Miconia holosericea (L.) Triana. 



Small tree, riverside above Cuao Creek, altitude 140 m., Maguire & Politi 

 27388; Guianas and Venezuela to Bolivia and southern Brazil. 



Miconia aplostachya (Bonpl.) DC. 



Shrub to 2 m. tall, Danta Falls, Rio Cuao altitude 140 rm, Maguire & Politi 

 29023; Amazonian lowlands, British Guiana to Colombia. 



Miconia calvescens DC. 



Small tree with white flowers, forests in the vicinity of Base Camp, Rio Cuao, 

 Maguire & Politi 28161, 28387; southern Mexico to Panama and southward to 

 Bolivia and southern Brazil, at low or moderate altitudes. 



Miconia dispar Benth. 



Mixed lowland rain-forest near Base Camp, Cerro Sipapo, altitude 140 m., Ma- 

 guire & Politi, 28401; an Amazonian species. 



Miconia lepidota DC. 



Small tree or shrub up to 4 m. tall, Danta Falls, Rrb Cuao, Maguire & Politi 

 28445, 29015; mostly at low altitudes, from the Caribbean southward to Bolivia 

 and northern Brazil. 



Miconia rubiginosa (Bonpl.) DC. 



Shrub to 2 m. tall, petals white, San Antonio-Cumana Road pass, State of 

 Monagas, Maguire, Kunhardt & Politi 27257; widely distributed in South America 

 as far as southern Brazil, mostly at low altitudes; also in Panama, Costa Rica, 

 Hispaniola, and Puerto Rico. 



Miconia rufescens (Aubl.) DC. 



Shrub to 2 m. tall, San Antonio-Cumana Road pass, State of Monagas, Maguire, 

 Kunhardt & Politi, 27255; French Guiana to Colombia, southward to Bolivia. 



Miconia minutiflora (Bonpl.) DC. 



Much branched shrub 2.5 m. tall, flowers white, fruit purple, San Antonio- 

 Cumana Road pass, State of Monagas, Maguire, Kunhardt & Politi 27256; Colombia 

 to Trinidad, usually at moderate elevations in the mountains. 



Miconia myriantha Benth. 



Small tree with white flowers, Base Camp, Cerro Sipapo, altitude 140 m., Ma- 

 guire & Politi 28169; abundant in the lowlands of northern South America, espe- 

 cially in the Guianas. 



