ix, c, i Merrill: Plants of Guam 79 
sepalis 4, rariter 3, 5 mm longis, reflexis ; staminibus 4 connatis, 
antheris 3 ad 4 mm longis. 
A dioecious, rather stout plant, when fresh bright-red (Mc- 
Gregor), orange-scarlet (Safford), the whole plant waxy and 
translucent (Safford), when dry dark-brown, the peduncles and 
bracts shining. Roots not seen. Peduncles rather stout, includ- 
ing the inflorescences 10 to 15 cm high, when dry and somewhat 
flattened out about 1 cm wide, shining. Bracts dark-brown, 
imbricate, or those of the female rather scattered, broadly elliptic- 
concave, rounded, 1.5 to 3 cm long, coriaceous, those of the 
male plant about twice as large as those of the female, much 
closer and decidedly imbricate. Female inflorescences ellipsoid 
or narrowly ellipsoid, 4 to 5 cm long, about 2 cm in diameter, 
apex rounded, with innumerable minute flowers. Ovary nar- 
rowly ovoid, 0.3 mm long, the styles slender, 1 mm long, smaller 
than the rather prominent, narrowly obovoid-clavate bracteoles, 
the thickened parts of which are 0.4 mm in diameter, rounded, 
narrowed below into a slender stalk, the whole about 1 mm long. 
Male flowers racemose, in bud crowded in a dense ovoid head, 
sessile, the lower ones opening first, in anthesis pedicelled, the 
pedicels 8 to 10 mm long, somewhat spreading, about 1 mm thick, 
the upper flowers (in bud) congested and sessile when the lower 
ones of the same raceme are in anthesis. Calyx-lobes 4, rarely 
3, reflexed, coriaceous, oblong-ovate, obtuse, somewhat keeled 
on the back, about 5 mm long, 2.5 to 2.8 mm wide. Anthers 
as many as the calyx-lobes, entirely united, the anther mass 
ellipsoid, 3 to 4 mm long, rounded, about 3 mm in diameter, 
when fresh white in contrast to the red color of the plant. 
R. C. McGregor 566, staminate flowers, Piti-Agat road, October, 1911, 
G. E. S. 227, near Piti, January, 1912. 
This species was very briefly characterized by Van Tieghem, but his de- 
scription is very inadequate. The type was from the Marianne Islands, 
collected by Marche in the year 1889. I at first considered our Guam ma- 
terial to represent a distinct species, as Van Tieghem describes Balanophora 
pentamera as having usually 5-merous flowers, but sometimes with 6 or 
even 7 sepals, which does not agree with our specimens. The probabilities 
are, however, that a single species is represented, and while letting my 
description stand, I have adopted Van Tieghem’s specific name. 
ARISTOLOCHIACEAE 
ARISTOLOCHIA Linnaeus 
ARISTOLOCH I A ELEGANS Mast, in Gard. Chron. II 24 (1885) SOI. 
Occasionally cultivated, fide Safford. 
A native of tropical America, now cultivated in many tropical countries. 
