154 MEMOIRS OF THE NEW YORK BOTANICAL GARDEN [Vol. 8, No. 2 



6. Heads 10-15-f lowered; Mt. Roraima and vicinity. 



7. S. condensatus (Baker) Blake. 

 6. Heads " 13-floris," said to differ from the above "por sus 

 pubescentia y el involucro campanulado"; not seen but pos- 

 sibly not distinct from S. condensatus. 8. S. guaiquinimensis Badillo. 

 5. Heads with 30-45 flowers; specimens as identified by Blake 

 from the region of Auyan-tepul and Mt. Roraima; possibly not 

 distinct from S. condensatus. 9. S. variabilis Blake. 

 4. Stems densely strigillose; leaves 4-7 cm. long, 1.5-3.5 cm. broad; 

 corollas 25-30 mm. long, the lobes twice the length of the tube; 

 known only from Cerro Duida. 10. 5". crassifolius Blake. 

 3. Stems densely tomentose; leaves sessile oblanceolate 12-21 mm. 

 long, 2.5-4.0 mm. broad; corolla 21-23 mm. long, tube 3-5 mm. long; 

 known only from Auyan-tepul in the state of Bolivar. 11. S. cymbifolius Blake. 

 2. Leaves densely pannose-tomentose pinnately nerved; achene densely 

 pubescent (subg. Eriostenopadus Gleason & Blake); known only from 

 Auyan-tepul. 12. S. cinereus Gleason & Blake. 



Gongylolepis Rob. Schomburgk. 



The first specimens of this remarkable Composite genus belonging to the 

 tribe Mutisieae were collected by Robert Schomburgk on the savannas of the 

 high plateau of the Gran Sabana near the headwaters of the Mazaruni River, 

 some "35" miles from Mount Roraima. Schomburgk set up the new genus Gongy- 

 lolepis to accommodate this tree composite under the specific name benthami- 

 ana. 29 Bentham and Hooker 30 thirty-five years later associated the Guianan spe- 

 cies with the Brazilian Stifftia parviflora. That disposition was adhered to in the 

 Naturlichen Pflanzenfamilien by Hoffman. 31 Blake, 32 however, rejected the align- 

 ment, reinstated Gongylolepis, and proposed two additional species from Cerro 

 Duida in Terr. Amazonas, Venezuela. Finally Cuatrecasas 33 recently transferred 

 his Neocaldasia colombiana of the eastern Andes to Gongylolepis, where it 

 properly belongs, raising the number of species then known to four. 



Now as a result of the New York Botanical Garden's program of exploration 

 in the Guayana Highland of Venezuela, six additional species have been col- 

 lected and studied in the fieldo Interesting patterns of distribution and relation- 

 ship are beginning to emerge as a result of the additional material. 



With one exception, G. colombiana, all of the ten species of Gongylolepis 

 occur on the sandstone areas of the Guayana Highland. So far as presently known, 

 of the remaining nine species, eight are confined, and mostly with very limited 

 distribution, to the sandstone plateau mountains of Terr. Amazonas. One species, 

 the first discovered in the genus, G. benthamiana, has a rather wide distribution 

 in the eastern portion of the Gran Sabana at least from Auyan-tepul to Mt. Ro- 

 raima and the eastern terminus of the sandstone plateau region. 



Present interpretations of relationship are expressed in the following sec- 

 tional arrangement: 



1. Section Amplifolia Maguire, sect. nov. Foliis ferme plus 12 cm. longis 4 cm. 

 latis, oblanceolatis vel oblongo-elliptico-oblanceolatis tantum chartaceis; nervis 

 primariis ultra medio libere anastomosis, venis superficiei superioris tantum pro- 

 minulis moderate reticulates. 



2. Subsect. Bracteata Maguire, subsect= nov. Capitulo solitario; involuco 

 3.5-4.5 cm. alto. Typus, Gongylolepis bracteata Maguire. 



"Linnaea 20: 760. 1847. 

 30 Gen. PI. 2 X : 491. 1873. 



3l E. & P. Nat. Pfl. 4 5 : 337. 1894; Nachtr. 4 s : 329. 1897. 

 "Bull. Torrey Club 58: 495. 1931. 

 "Fieldiana 27: 51. 1950. 



