THE GENUS ESPELETIA 
469 
given in honor of Don Jose de Espeletia, at one time viceroy of the 
Kingdom of New Grenada, who encouraged botanical explorations 
about Bogota during his term of office. Bonpland expressly states 
that the generic name should be credited to Mutis, who discovered 
E. grandiflora in the vicinity of Bogota. It is thus apparent that 
Espeletia grandiflora is the type of the genus,^ — a matter of no very 
great importance, since only one species has ever been referred to 
any other genus. Libanothamnus was based by Ernst upon the 
plant now known as Espeletia neriifolia, which differs in habit from 
other members of the group and had previously been referred to two 
other genera. Ernst did not recognize the relationship of Humboldt's 
Trixis neriifolia with Espeletia, nor was he aware that Weddell had 
already transferred it to its proper position, otherwise he probably 
would not have made it the type of a new genus. 
No additions were made to Espeletia after 1809 until Weddell 
published his elaborate treatment of the Andine flora in 1855.^ That 
author lists eleven species, seven of which are described as new, 
while one is transferred from another genus. Since 1855 the only 
published addition to Espeletia is a subspecies described in 1905. 
That so little concerning the genus is found in later literature 
results from the fact that few botanists have visited the Andine regions 
of Venezuela and Colombia in recent years. Lately the U. S. National 
Herbarium has received twenty-two sheets of Espeletia, representing 
nearly as many collections. This is probably more material than is 
found in any other herbarium and has led the writer to undertake a 
review of the genus as a whole, in the course of which no less than 
six species apparently new have been discovered. Nearly all these 
sheets were included in a large set of Venezuelan plants collected by 
Dr. Alfredo Jahn, mainly in the high Cordilleras, in regions difficult 
of access and not visited by any other recent collector. The col- 
lection includes many highly interesting plants, but no genus is so 
completely represented as the present one. Of the species of Espeletia 
previously described from this region Doctor Jahn has recollected 
all but two, and one of these is a plant of doubtful standing. 
Of the shrubby species of Espeletia one is known as **incienso," 
since the branches produce a large quantity of resin which is burned 
as incense in the churches. The non-shrubby species are commonly 
^ Chloris Andina, Essai d'une flore de la region alpine des cordilleres de L'Amer- 
ique du Sud, in Castelnau, Expedition dans les parties centrales de I'Amerique du 
Sud, part 6. 
