PHILIPPINE URTICACEAE. 
537 
34. Elatostema obtusiusculum sp. nov. 
E. brongniartiano valde affine, sed differt foliis longioribus, magis 
serratis, venis validioribus, latere latiore continuis, vel subcontinnis. 
Staminate receptacles sessile : outer bracts orbicular-ovate, 2 mm long,, 
acuminate, shortly corniculate; the next shorter, ovate, shortly cornicu- 
late, ciliate; bracteoles narrowly oblong, about 1.5 mm long, sparingly 
ciliate; perianth-segments 5, oblong-oblanceolate, 1.5 mm long, the spurs 
very unequal, up to 1 mm long; filaments slightly exceeding perianth; 
anthers white, 0.6 mm long: pistillate receptacles sessile; bracts united 
at base, the free portion of the outer pair ovate, 1 mm long, slightly 
corniculate, ciliate ; the others lanceolate, pilose, ciliate ; bracteoles linear- 
oblanceolate, 1 mm long, densely pilose at the apex ; flowers still young, 
apparently perfectly typical. 
Erect except at base, usually tufted, somewhat succulent, 10 to 25 cm 
high, the stems densely covered with short, stiff, brown and gray, nearly 
appressed hairs : leaves subsessile, the lamina rather firmly membrana- 
ceous, obliquely elliptic or elliptic-oblanceolate, 3 to 6 cm long, 13. to 23 
mm wide, the base obtuse or subacute on the narrower side, shortly 
auriculate on the wider, the margins except at the .base serrate, the teeth 
coarse, about 20 in number on full-sized leaves, usually thickened-apicu- 
late, leaf-apex not or barely projecting beyond the general outline, obtuse; 
triplinerved, with 4 to 6 additional veins, all strongly projecting on the 
under surface, the veins of both sides strongly arched-anastomosing with 
the succeeding, nearly always forming a continuous line from base to 
near the apex, of the leaf, finer reticulations numerous, sufficiently cqn- 
spicuous; cystoliths crowded on the glabrous upper surface, inconspicuous 
on the under, which is appressed-strigose on the veins ; stipules lanceolate, 
deci duous-apieulate, 2 to 3 mm long. 
Luzon, Province of Tayabas, Mahabangsugsugan River, growing on rocks at 
an elevation of from 100 to 150 m, Bur. Sci. 9480 Robinson (type) : Province of 
Camarines, Maagnas, Bur. Sci. 6359 Robipgop., fragmentary, but differing only 
by having the apparently younger leaves more pubescent. This approaches 
closely to large specimens of E. brongniartianum, such as Copeland 288, but seems 
to differ from all collections of that species in the characters above noted and 
in the nature of the stem-pubescence. Only after long hesitation, is it published 
as distinct from that species and the succeeding. E. contiguum is its near 
neighbor . both in systematic position and in habitat, the types coming from 
similar situations less than 1 Km apart. In the field they were sufficiently dis- 
tinct to be gathered as such Without hesitation, and they can at once be sep- 
arated by the leaf-apices and bases, and less definitely by the more acute leaf- 
teeth and slightly more numerous veins of E. contiguum: however, they are 
closely allied, both falling in the E. sessile alliance, though distinct enough from 
its typical forms. 
