1957] 



THE BOTANY OF THE GUAYANA HIGHLAND— PART II 



333 



at Cerro de la Neblina, 1900 m altitude, Territorio Amazonas, Venezuela, January 

 6, 1954, Maguire, Wurdack & Bunting 37133 (holotype, NY). 



Distribution. Known only from the type locality in open bog savanna on the 

 summit of Cerro de la Neblina, where the plant is a frequent member of the bog 

 society. 



D. metis toe aulis seems to represent a primitive member of the genus for which 

 there are no recognized close affinities. It fits into the subgenus Rorella DC 

 according to the delimitation and arrangement of Diels 10 because of hypogaeous 

 stems and conspicuous stipules. Its unique branching and (later) fastigiate and 

 escapose habit exclude the plant from any other previously circumscribed section; 

 this necessitates the erection of the new section, Meristocaulis, to accommodate 

 it. 



The other members of Guayana Drosera, all with non-branching, rosulate, 

 scapose habit, belong to and find ready affinity in the section Drosera (Rossolis 

 Planch.) with the exception of D. sessilifolia sect. Thelocalyx. It is difficult to 

 perceive any direct or recent phyletic connection between D. meristocaulis and 

 its Guayana congeners. 



If the fundamental morphologic characters of D. meristocaulis indicate a 

 derived condition, then apparently no intermediate stages toward this evolutionary 

 apogee occur, or at least none have been observed in the Highland area or else- 

 where. If the morphology of D. meristocaulis is to be interpreted as primitive, 

 then one must postulate for it a remote single-line development from an ancient 

 ancestral prototype, and that no derivatives now known have been cut off from it. 

 We are inclined toward this latter view. In manner of branching, D. meristocaulis 

 is most suggestive of the monotypic Hispanian and Moroccan genus Drosophyllum 

 with which our plant has no affinity. 



2. Drosera sesilifolia St.-Hil. PI. Remarq. Bres. & Par. 1: 259. pi 25A. 1824. 



Type locality: Sertao do Rio S. Francisco, Minas Geraes, Brazil. 



Distribution. Moist open places, generally at lower altitudes; southern and 

 central and Territorio Rio Branco, Brazil; the Rupununi Savannas, British Guiana; 

 and granitic areas below 500 m altitude in the Rib Orinoco drainage, Venezuela. 



3. Drosera roraimae (Klotzsch ex Diels) Maguire & Laundon* 1 stat. nov. 



D. montana St.-Hil. var. roraimae Klotzsch ex Diels. Pflanzenreich 4 (112): 90. 1906. 

 D. montana St.-Hil. var. robusta Diels, Notizb. 6: 136. 1914. 



Stem short, invested by marcescent leaves; leaves rosulate, more or less 

 conspicuously tawny-strigose-hirsute on the lower surface; stipules conspicuous, 

 lacerate, 0.4-0.6 mm long; petiole plane, 6-10 mm long; blade spathulate-obovate, 

 ca. 3-5 mm broad, 5-6 mm long; scape 15-25 cm long; inflorescence coarsely 

 stipitate-glandular, (5-) 10-1 5-flowered; flowers secund; pedicels 3-4 mm long; 

 sepals stipitate-glandular, oblong-elliptic, acutish, 3.5-4.5 mm long (non-fertile 

 flowers smaller); petals broadly obovate, 6-8 mm long; styles 3, dissected to the 

 geniculate base, the apices forked; seed black, subclavate, 0.8-1 „0 mm long, 

 rounded-truncate at the apex, narrowed at the base, prominently low-bullate- 

 papillate, the papillae in 15-20 more or less vertical rows. 



TYPE: Schomburgk 1034, Mt. Roraima [Venezuela]. 



l0 Diels, L. Droseraceae. Pflanzenreich 4 (112): 62. 1906. 



ll In studies carried on at the British Museum, Mr. J. R. Laundon had independently 

 concluded that Drosera roraimae should be removed from D. montana and elevated to spe- 

 cific status. When we learned of his concurrent opinion, we asked Mr. Laundon to join us 

 in the presentation of D. roraimae. 



