278 



4 



MEMOIRS OF THE NEW YORK BOTANICAL GARDEN [Vol. 9, No. 3 



eroso-laceratum, marginibus ciliatis; arista ca. 2 cm longa, gracilis, obscure 2- 

 geniculata, dense villosa; spiculae masculae 5 mm longae, conspicuosae, plus 

 minusve purpureae, marginibus in parte superiore alis angustis hispido-ciliatis; 

 antherae 3 mm longae. 



Perennial; culms erect, rather coarse, about 2 m high, branching and rebranch- 

 ing, the branches erect, the visible nodes bearded with ascending hairs; sheaths, 

 except the upper ones, much longer than the internodes, glabrous except for a 

 few hairs at the summit, auriculate, the auricles 4-7 mm long, or shorter on the 

 branches, acute or acuminate, coalesced with the ligule; ligule as much as 12 mm 

 long, firm, acute or subacuminate; blades as much as 27 cm long, 5-8 mm wide, 

 attenuate, those of the secondary branches and the upper ones smaller, the latter 

 usually reflexed; racemes 3 or 4, ascending. 4-13 cm long, purplish; fertile 

 spikelet 8 mm long including the callus, this 2 mm long, densely hairy, the hairs 

 reaching to 3 mm from the tip, the scar 1 mm long, narrow, but narrowed toward 

 both ends; first glume pilose with long hairs intermixed especially toward the 

 summit; second glume longer than the first, sparsely covered with long hairs; 

 sterile lemma shorter than the first glume, very thin, truncate-erose-lacerate, the 

 margins conspicuously ciliate; awn about 2 cm long, slender, obscurely 2-genic- 

 ulate, densely plumose to the tip with very fine hairs; staminate spikelets con- 

 spicuous, obscuring the fertile ones; first glume with long stiff hairs above, 

 sparsely hairy with shorter hairs below, the margins narrowly winged in the upper 

 half, hispid-ciliate; sterile and fertile lemmas similar, broad, thin, finely ciliate, 

 a little shorter than the glumes; anthers 3 mm long. 



TYPE: locally frequent in depression in savanna, Samwaraknatipu (Holi-tipu), 

 alt. 1100 m, Kamarang River, Wenamu Trail, British Guiana, November 10, 1951, 

 Bassett Maguire & 0. B. Fanshawe 32547; U.S. National Herbarium No. 2,078,796. 



The coarse branching culms and short awns finely plumose throughout are 

 characteristic. In Trachypogon plumosus (Humb. & Bonpl.) Nees, the only other 

 species recorded for British Guiana, the culms are more slender, only sparingly 

 branching if at all, and the awns are mostly 5 cm long, the terminal segment 

 scabrous only. 



ERIOCAULACEAE 6 



Carptotepala jenmani (Gleason) Moldenke, comb. nov. 



Paepalanthus jen,nani Gleason, Bull. Torrey Club 56: 14. 1929- 



Eriocaulon brevifolium var. proliferum Moldenke, var. nov. 



Haec varietas a forma typica speciei capitulis folioso-proliferis recedit. 



TMs variety differs from the typical form of the species in having its heads 

 regularly leafy-proliferous in the center, the proliferations 1-2 cm. long. 



Type: Bassett Maguire & John ]. Wurdack 34595; hummocky, wet, low, open 

 woodland Laguna at Yapacana, alt. 125 m, Alto Rio Orinoco, Amazonas, Vene- 

 zuela, March 20, 1953, New York Botanical Garden. The collectors note that the 

 plant was a perennial herb, locally abundant. 

 Leiothrix celiae Moldenke, sp. nov. 



Herba perennis ramosis; ramis crassis summitate foliosis; foliis herbaceis 

 graminoideis acutis longe ciliatis multistriatis; pedunculis numerosissimis fili- 

 formibus brunneis obscure 4-costatis plusminusve piloso-pubescentibus, pilis 

 antrorsis adpressis vel leviter patentibus; vaginis plerumque arcanis glabris, ore 

 longe piloso; capitulis obconicis griseis; bracteolis involucri brunneo-stramineis 

 lanceolatis attenuato-acutis adpresso-pilosis; receptaculo longe piloso. 



Closely-branched perennial herb; branches thick, heavy, apparently at least 



6 By H. N. Moldenke. 



