Vol. 9, No. 3 MEMOIRS OF THE NEW YORK BOTANICAL GARDEN May 23, 1957 



BOTANY OF THE CHIMANTA MASSIF— I 

 GRAN SABANA, VENEZUELA 22 



Bassett Maguire, Julian A. Steyermark, John J. Wurdack, 



AND COLLABORATORS 



The Chimanta Massif, probably the largest of the Roraima-formation mountains, 

 has been the object of joint exploration by the New York Botanical Garden and 

 the Chicago Natural History Museum. Parts of the massif (Abacapa-tepuf and 

 Acopan-tepui') had earlier been visited briefly by Captain Felix Cardona. During 

 January and February, 1953, The New York Botanical Garden in conjunction with 

 the American Museum of Natural History visited the east-central slopes of the 

 Massif and the east cumbre of Churi-tepui'(Muru-tepui'). From March to July of the 

 same year, under the same arrangement, the Chicago Natural History Museum 

 expedition collected on the western and southern slopes and cumbres (Abacapa- 

 tepui, Torono-tepui, and Apacara-tepui*). The joint expedition in January, Feb- 

 ruary, and March of 1955 explored the slopes and cumbres of the central part of 

 the Massif and adjoining Apacara and Torono-tepuis. 



The botanical materials of these three expeditions are being studied jointly by 

 the Chicago Natural History Museum and The New York Botanical Garden, and 

 are to be reported upon under the above title. In addition, materials obtained by 

 The New York Botanical Garden in 1952 from the Gran Sabana, Ptari-tepui and 

 Sororopan-tepui* and incidental collections made by Captain Felix Cardona on the 

 Chimanta massif and on Auyan-tepui* are included herein. Geographical notes 

 obtained on the Chimanta expeditions will be published at a later date. 



The collected materials of certain families of The New York Botanical Garden 

 field operation to date have been presented in "Botany of the Guayan Highland — 

 Part II." Collaborators who studied the larger body of materials have made occa- 

 sion also to review the specimens of the same families (viz. Gramineae, Erio- 

 caulaceae, Bromeliaceae, Piperaceae and Annonaceae) for the present article. 



By mutual agreement, the Chicago Natural History Museum and The New York 

 Botanical Garden will hold in abeyance the further study and publication of 

 Chimanta collections until the publication of the larger body of Guayana materials 

 will have been completed. 



GRAMINEAE" 



1. Myriocladus gracilis Swallen, sp. nov. (Fig. 74.) 



Culmi graciles, dense caespitosi, 50-75 cm alti, multinodi, pauciramosi; 

 vaginae strigosae, truncatae, in ore fimbriatae; laminae 10-17 mm longae, ca. 

 2 mm latae, rigidae, acutae, nervosae, appressae, basi brevipetiolatae, margi- 

 nibus sparse scabrae vel hispidae; inflorescentiae usque ad 2 cm longae, 3-5- 



22 Footnotes and figures in this paper are numbered consecutively with those of "Bot- 

 any of the Guayana Highland — Part II" (Mem. N. Y. Bot. Gard. 9:235-392. 1957). 

 "By Jason R. Swallen, except Ischaemum and Andropogon by Ernest R. Sohns. 



393 



