FIELDIANA: BOTANY A Continuation of the BOTANICAL SERIES of FIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY VOLUME 32 FIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY CHICAGO, U.S.A. TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. A New Guatemalan Spigelia. By Dorothy N. Gibson 1 2. Three New Nicaraguan Epidendrums. By Alfonso H. Heller 7 3. Syagrus oleracea ( Mart. ) Becc. and Closely Related Taxa. By S. F. Glassman ^ 4. Tropical American Plants, X. By Louis O. Williams 35 5. Two New Guatemalan Tournefortias. By Dorothy N. Gibson 65 6. A New Member of Morganella. By Patricio Ponce de Leon 69 7. A New Odontoglossum from Nicaragua. By Alfonso H. Heller 73 8. Studies in the Palm Genus Syagrus Mart. II. By S. F. Glassman 77 9. Revision of the Genus Vascellum ( Ly coper daceae ). By Patricio Ponce de Leon 109 10. A Conspectus of the Palm Genus Butia Becc. By S. F. Glassman 127 11. Studies in American Plants, II. By Dorothy N. Gibson 173 12. Tropical American Plants, XI. By Louis O. Williams .179 13. The Juglandaceae of Guatemala. By Louis O. Williams and Antonio Molina R 207 14. An Overlooked Genus of the Scrophulariaceae. By Louis O. Williams 211 15. A Synopsis of the Palm Genus Syagrus Mart. By S. F. Glassman 215 16. A New Hybrid in the Palm Genus Syagrus Mart. By S. F. Glassman . , . . 241 A NEW GUATEMALAN SPIGELIA DOROTHY N. GIBSON THREE NEW NICARAGUAN EPIDENDRUMS ALFONSO H. HELLER SYAGRUS OLERACEA (MART.) BECC. AND CLOSELY RELATED TAXA S. F. GLASSMAN TROPICAL AMERICAN PLANTS, X LOUIS 0. WILLIAMS FIELDIANA: BOTANY VOLUME 32, NUMBERS 1, 2, 3, 4 Published by FIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY AUGUST 19, 1968 Tfce Ubwnf of the A NEW GUATEMALAN SPIGELIA DOROTHY N. GIBSON Custodian of the Herbarium Field Museum of Natural History THREE NEW NICARAGUAN EPIDENDRUMS ALFONSO H. HELLER Associate, Field Museum of Natural History SYAGRUS OLERACEA (MART.) BECC AND CLOSELY RELATED TAXA S. F. GLASSMAN Research Associate, Palms Field Museum of Natural History and University of Illinois, Chicago Circle TROPICAL AMERICAN PLANTS, X LOUIS 0. WILLIAMS Chief Curator, Botany Field Museum of Natural History FIELDIANA: BOTANY VOLUME 32, NUMBERS 1, 2, 3, 4 Published by FIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY AUGUST 19, 1968 CONTENTS A New Guatemalan Spigelia by Dorothy N. Gibson 5 Three New Nicaraguan Epidendrums by Alfonso H. Heller 7 Syagrus oleracea (Mart.) Becc. and Closely Related Taxa by S. F. Glassman . 13 Tropical American Plants, X by Louis O. Williams 35 FIELDIANA . BOTANY Volume 32, No. 3 August 19, 1968 Publication 1054 Syagrus oleracea (Mart.) Becc. and Closely Related Taxa 1 S. F. GLASSMAN RESEARCH ASSOCIATE, PALMS FIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY AND UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS, CHICAGO CIRCLE Distinguishing Syagrus oleracea from some other members in the genus, as is the case with many genera of palms, is difficult because of inadequate descriptions and insufficient material collected from each tree. This species, which is distributed mainly in eastern Brazil, was originally described by Martius under Cocos in 1826. His descrip- tion is rather lengthy, but certain diagnostic characters are omitted (i.e., width of middle pinnae, length and width of spathe, length of branched part of spadix, length of individual spadix branches, and size of female flowers). Included with Martius' description is an illustration (t. 82) which shows a partially opened spathe, part of a spadix, the upper third of a leaf with the terminal pinnae re- moved, and several male and female flowers (fig. 1). An illustration by Barbosa Rodrigues (1903, t. 84) also shows fruits (fig. 2). The lectotype (Martius 1595, M) consists of parts of a leaf, a spathe, parts of a spadix, and a package of male and female flowers. Many other herbarium specimens (more than 30 numbers) of S. oleracea have been seen by me, but most of these lack certain diagnostic parts. During the summer of 1965 I made rather extensive collections of complete leaves, spathes and spadices and mature flowers and fruits of this species in the state of Sao Paulo, Brazil (Classman & Gomes 8001, 8003, 8006, 8009, CHI). After comparing these speci- mens with others I had studied and after observing hundreds of trees in Sao Paulo, I now have a much clearer picture of the morphological limits and range of variation of Syagrus oleracea. Below is the syn- onymy for this species, followed by an emended description. hs stud y has been supported by National Science Foundation Grant Library of Congress Catalog Card Number. 68-31881 13 COI'O.S nlrr:i-r;i FIG. 1. Cocos oleracea. After Martius, 1826, t. 14 Oo FIG. 2. Cocos oleracea. After Barbosa Rodrigues, 1903, t. 84. 15 FIG. 3. Cocos picrophylla. After Barbosa Rodrigues, 1903, t. 66. 16 GLASSMAN: SYAGRUS OLERACEA AND RELATED TAXA 17 Syagrus oleracea (Mart.) Becc., L'Agric. Colon. 10: 467. 1916. Cocos oleracea Mart., Hist. Nat. Palm. 2: 117, t. 82. 1826. C. oleracea var. platyphylla Drude in Mart. Fl. Bras. 2: 417. 1881. S. oleracea var. platyphylla (Drude) Becc., L'Agric. Colon. 10: 467. 1916. S. picrophylla Barb. Rodr., Prot. App. 45. 1879. C. picro- phylla (Barb. Rodr.) Barb. Rodr., Les Palm. 26, t. 3, fig. 2a, b. 1882; Sert. Palm. Bras. 1 : t. 65A-66. 1903. Palm 10-20 m. tall fide Drude (18-24 m. fide Martius), trunk up to 30 cm. or more in diameter. Naked petiole 4-17 cm. long, sheathing base 45-95 cm. long, deteriorating into separate fibers; rachis of leaf 175-263 cm. long, pinnae 134-152 pairs, mostly in clusters of 3-4 (2-5), slightly glaucous or eglaucous on both sur- faces, middle ones up to 80 (88) cm. long and 2.7-4.0 (4.5) cm. wide, mostly with acuminate tips; expanded part of spathe 54-100 cm. long and 9-14 cm. wide; branched part of spadix 40-68 cm. long, branches up to 50 or more in number, each branch up to 45 cm. or more long; male flowers 10-14 mm. long on upper part, 15-22 mm. long on lower part; female flowers 12-22 mm. long, 6-10 mm. wide; mature fruit ovoid, 4.0-5.2 (5.5) cm. long and 2.5-3 (3.5) cm. in diameter, with beak up to 7 mm. long, endocarp 5-8 mm. thick along sides, 7-13 mm. thick at ends, cavity mostly smooth; seed 2.0-2.5 cm. long, 1.3-1.5 cm. in diameter, cavity about 1.0 cm. long, 0.8 cm. wide. In 1881, Drude described var. platyphylla as having a shorter trunk, wider pinnae and longer male flowers than var. oleracea. The holotype and isotypes of var. platyphylla (Glaziou 8063, C; A, NY, P, US) have pinnae up to 3.6 cm. wide, male flowers up to 16 mm. long, and female flowers 12-16 mm. long, all of which fall within the range of var. oleracea. Paratypes of var. platyphylla (Glaziou 7000, C, P; SOW, C, FI, K, P; 9010, A, C, FI, K, LE, NY, P, R, S) also resemble other specimens of var. oleracea closely. It is interesting to note that female flowers of different specimens of Glaziou 9010 measure 12-14, 13-15, 14-16, and 15-18 mm. long. The description of S. picrophylla by Barbosa Rodrigues (1903) is very brief, e.g., width of pinnae and size of female flowers are not mentioned, and no type specimens are cited nor could any be found. An illustration (fig. 3) of diagnostic parts published at a later date by Barbosa Rodrigues (1903, t. 66), however, seems to be a close match for specimens of S. oleracea. According to Beccari (1886), t. 82 of Martius (1826) consists of two different species. Figure II (part of spadix with individual flowers) corresponds to Glaziou 12255 and is Cocos oleracea which has long female flowers (20 mm. more or less) and wide pinnae (40-43 mm.) ; and fig. Ill (upper third of leaf blade with tip removed ) cor- responds to Glaziou 9010 and is C. picrophylla which has short female FIG. 4. Syagrus gomesii Classman. Whole inflorescence of holotype. Classman & Gomes 8005 (CHI). 18 FIG. 5. Syagrus gomesii Glassman. Part of leaf of holotype. Glassman & Gomes 8005 (CHI). 19 20 FIELDIANA: BOTANY, VOLUME 32 f FIG. 6. Syagrus gomesii. Female (left) and male flowers. flowers (12 mm. more or less) and narrow pinnae (26-30 mm.). It is difficult to tell accurately the size of flowers or width of pinnae from an illustration. Furthermore, the pinnae from the upper sec- tion of the blade are mostly narrower than those from the middle section. Variation of the flower size of Glaziou 9010 already has been mentioned, and its pinnae are 28-35 mm. wide. Specimens of Gla- ziou 12255 (C, K, LE, P) which I saw have female flowers 13-18 mm. long and pinnae 38-44 mm. wide. In 1939, Bondar considered Cocos picrophylla to be synonymous with C. botryophora Martius, but in a later article (1964) he treated them as separate species. In 1964, Bondar also treated C. picrophylla and C. oleracea as distinct taxa. He gave the distribution of C. picrophylla as suburbs of Vitoria, state of Espirito Santo, and that of C. oleracea as a triangular area bordering on the states of Minas Gerais and Goyaz. Specimens collected from Vitoria (Bondar 15, F) have female flowers measuring 12-13 mm. and 15-18 mm. long, and pinnae 35-40 mm. wide. GLASSMAN: SYAGRUS OLERACEA AND RELATED TAXA 21 Other collections showing variation are Glaziou 13295 (C, F, FI, P) with female flowers 16-18 and 17-22 mm. long, and pinnae 34-40 mm. wide; and Glassman & Gomes 8001 (CHI) with female flowers FIG. 7. Syagrus gomesii. sections. External view of fruit with longitudinal and cross- 17-19 and 20-22 mm. long, and pinnae up to 30 mm. wide. It is evident that two distinct taxa cannot be differentiated on the basis of flower length and pinnae width alone. Unfortunately, other diag- nostic features such as rachis length, number of pinnae per leaf, length of middle pinnae, and size and morphology of mature fruit, cannot be determined from most herbarium specimens studied. Syagrus oleracea is found mainly in eastern Brazil including the states of Parana, Sao Paulo, Guanabara (Rio de Janeiro), Espirito Santo, Minas Gerais, Goyaz, Bahia, Pernambuco, Parahyba, and Ceara. Specimens of S. oleracea also have been seen from Paraguay (Hassler 1233, G). In Sao Paulo, this species is particularly abun- dant near Marilia, Pompeia, and Tupa, where it forms stands of 200-3,000 trees along with Syagrus romanzoffiana (Cham.) Glassman and other species of Syagrus. In the field, one of these taxa is readily distinguished from both S. oleracea and S. romanzoffiana by its much taller and narrower trunk and much shorter leaves. A search of the literature fails to reveal any definite record of this palm; therefore, I am describing it as a new species: 22 FIELDIANA: BOTANY, VOLUME 32 FIG. 8. Syagrus gomesii. Tall, thin tree (left center) in stand with S. roman- zoffiana and S. oleracea. Sao Paulo, 3 km. north of Pompeia. Syagrus gomesii Glassman sp. nov. Figures 4-8. Palma 36 m. alta. Folia ca. 160 cm. longa; rachis ca. 120 cm. longis pinnae utrinque 100 in gregibus dispositus pinniis ca. 42 cm. longis 2.4 cm. latis; spatha pars inflata 46 cm. longa 9 cm. lata; spadix pars ramosa 33 cm. longa rami numerosi 21 cm. longi; floresmasculi 10-11 mm. et 13-16 mm. longi; floresfeminei 15-18 mm. longi 6-7 mm. lati; fructus ovoideus 5 cm. longus, 2.7 cm. diam.; semen 1.8 cm. longum, 1.2-1.3 cm. diam. Palm up to 36 m. tall, trunk about 15 cm. in diameter. Naked petiole up to 4 cm. long, sheathing base up to 36 cm. long, deteriorating into separate fibers; rachis of leaf up to 120 cm. long, up to 100 pairs of pinnae, in clusters of 2-4, glaucous on upper surface, middle ones up to 42 cm. long and 2.4 cm. wide, mostly with acuminate tips; expanded part of spathe up to 46 cm. long and 9 cm. wide; branched part of spadix up to 33 cm. long, branches numerous, each branch up to 21 cm. long; male flowers 10-11 mm. long on upper part, 13-16 mm. long on lower part; female flowers 15-18 mm. long, 6-7 mm. wide; fruit ovoid, up to 5 cm. long and 2.7 cm. in diameter, with beak up to 5 mm. long, endocarp 5-6 mm. thick along sides, 9 mm. thick at ends, cavity mostly smooth; seed 1.8 cm. long, 1.2-1.3 cm. in diameter, cavity 1.0 cm. long, 0.8 cm. wide. BRAZIL: State of Sao Paulo, 3 km. north of Pompeia, Hacienda Gueivira, property of Dr. Mario Bastos, in formation of about 3,000 palm trees, associated with S. oleracea and S. romanzoffiana, July 4, 1965, Glassman & Gomes 8005 (CHI). GLASSMAN: SYAGRUS OLERACEA AND RELATED TAXA 23 FIG. 9. Cocos oleracea. After Barbosa Rodrigues, 1903, t. 83. I am dedicating this new species to Mr. J. C. Gomes, who was killed in an auto accident in Brazil during one of our collecting trips. See Glassman (1967) for further details. Syagrus gomesii is one of the tallest, if not the tallest, known species of Syagrus. Apparently, the same tall, narrow -trunked tree was seen by us as scattered individuals between Belo Horizonte and Ouro Preto, Minas Gerais. An illustration of a tall tree labelled Cocos oleracea by Barbosa Rodrigues (1903, t. 83} may be the species described above, but the leaves appear to be too long (fig. 9). The \ 1 KLS \ k : /'. FIG. 10. Syaj/rws x teixeiriana Glassman. Part of inflorescence of holotype. Glass- man & Gomes 8008 (CHI). 24 FIG. 11. Syagrus x teixeiriana Glassman. Part of infructescence of holotype Glassman & Gomes 8008 (CHI). 25 26 FIELDIANA: BOTANY, VOLUME 32 \ FIG. 12. Syagrus x teixeiriana Classman. Part of leaf of holotype. Glassman & Gomes 8008 (CHI). new species most closely resembles S. oleracea in the clustering of the pinnae, the size of the male and female flowers, and the size and shape of the fruit. Differences in the two species are shown in the following key: GLASSMAN: SYAGRUS OLERACEA AND RELATED TAXA 27 FIG. 13. Syagrus x teixeiriana. Longitudinal and cross-sections of fruit. Tree up to 36 m. tall, trunk up to 15 cm. in diameter, leaf rachis up to 120 cm. long, pinnae up to 100 pairs, each up to 42 cm. long S. gomesii Tree usually 10-20 m. tall, trunk up to 30 cm. or more in diameter, leaf rachis 175-263 cm. long, pinnae 134-152 pairs, each up to 80 cm. long S. oleracea In another stand of S. oleracea and S. romanzoffiana, we found a tree which appeared to be a hybrid between the two species. I am naming this taxon after Dr. Alcides Teixeira, Director of the Insti- tute de Botanica, Sao Paulo, to whom I am deeply grateful for greatly facilitating my collecting of palms in Brazil. 1 Syagrus x teixeiriana Classman, hybr. nov. Figures 10-15. Palma hybrida ca. 4.1 m. alta; folia ca. 269 cm. longa, rachis ca. 210 m. longis pinnae utrinque 149 in gregibus dispositus pinniis ca. 66 cm. longis 2.7 cm. latis; spatha pars inflata 82 cm. longa 13 cm. lata; spadix pars ramosa 56 cm. longa 1 After reading my writeup of this species, Dr. Wessels Boer of Utricht (per- sonal communication) suggested that S. gomesii may be merely an advanced growth stage of S. oleracea. He has seen similar situations in other genera of palms in Surinam and Venezuela where the oldest trees of a particular stand had much taller and narrower trunks and much shorter leaves than the normal population of that species. It will be interesting to explore this theory further on my next trip to Brazil. FIG. 14. Syagrus x teixeiriana. Tree showing inflorescences and infructescences. Sao Paulo, 20 km. north of Tupa. 28 GLASSMAN: SYAGRUS OLERACEA AND RELATED TAXA 29 FIG. 15. Syagrus x teixeiriana. J. C. Gomes holding infructescence and inflores- cence. Leaves on ground. Same locality as Figure 14. rachilliis ca. 38, 41 cm. longis; flores masculi 8-12 mm. et 15-17 mm. longi; flores feminei 7.0-7.5 cm. longi 5-7 mm. lati; fructus ovoideus 3 cm. longus 2 cm. diam.; semen 1.3-1.4 cm. longum, 0.7 cm. diam. Hybrid palm about 4.1 m. tall, trunk about 15 cm. in diameter. Naked petiole up to 6 cm. long, sheathing base up to 53 cm. long, deteriorating into separate fibers; rachis of leaf up to 210 cm. long, up to 149 pairs of pinnae, mostly in clusters of 4 (3-5), slightly glaucous on both surfaces, middle ones up to 66 cm. long and 2.7 cm. wide, mostly with long acuminate tips; expanded part of spathe up to 82 cm. long and 13 cm. wide; branched part of spadix up to 56 cm. long (fruiting up to 81 cm. long), branches about 38 in number, each branch up to 41 cm. long (fruiting 86 branches, each up to 48 cm. long); male flowers 8-12 mm. long on upper part, 15-17 mm. long on lower part; female flowers 7-7.5 cm. long, 5-7 mm. wide; fruit ovoid, up to 3 cm. long and 2 cm. in diameter, with very short beak, endocarp 4-4.5 mm. thick along sides, up to 7 mm. thick at ends, cavity smooth inside, but slightly irregular in shape; seed (only one seen) insepar- able from endocarp cavity, 1.3-1.4 cm. long, 0.7 cm. in diameter, cavity 7 mm. long, 2 mm. wide. FIG. 16. Syagrus romanzoffiana. Tree showing inflorescence. Sao Paulo, 18 km. east of Marilia. FIG. 17. Syagrus romanzoffiana. J. C. Gomes holding leaf. Locality same as Figure 16. 30 CLASSMAN: SYAGRUS OLERACEA AND RELATED TAXA 31 FIG. 18. Syagrus romanzoffiana. J. C. Gomes holding inflorescence and infruc- tescences. Locality same as Figure 16. BRAZIL: State of Sao Paulo, 20 km. north of Tupa, Fazenda Vanuir, part of stand of about 1,000 palm trees, associated with S. oleracea and S. romanzoffiana, July 5, 1965, Glassman & Gomes 8008 (CHI). Collections were made from only one tree of this taxon. There were probably other hybrid trees, but due to lack of time no others were found. The following table shows relationships between the hybrid and its two putative parent species. Since only one specimen of S. x teixeiriana was collected, measurements for the parent species are based mainly on specimens collected in the same stand rather than on extreme measurements. 32 FIELDIANA: BOTANY, VOLUME 32 S. romanzoffiana S. x teixeiriana S. oleracea Rachis length Up to 207 cm. Up to 210 cm. Up to 175 cm. No. of pinnae per leaf Up to 147 pairs Up to 149 pairs Up to 134 pairs Middle pinnae width Up to 2 cm. Up to 2.7 cm. Up to 2.8 cm. Middle pinnae length Up to 65 cm. Up to 66 cm. Up to 62 cm. Spadix Branched part Up to 83 cm. long Up to 56 cm. long Up to 45 cm. long No. of branches Up to 77 Up to 38 Up to 40 Length of each branch Up to 62 cm. Up to 41 cm. Up to 27 cm. Length and width of female flowers Fruit length and diameter Beak Endocarp cavity Seed length and diameter Seed shape and position Seed cavity 4.5-5.5 X4-5 mm. 7.0-7.5 X5-7 mm. 3X2 cm. 2.0-2.2 X 1.4-1.5 cm. Very short Very short Very irregular in Slightly irregular outline, grooved in outline.slightly within 0.8X0.6 cm. grooved within 1.3-1.4X0.7 cm. Gibbous-uncinate, Narrowly ovate, inseparable from inseparable from fruit fruit 18-22X8-9 mm. 4.0X2.5 cm. About 5 mm. long Regular in outline, smooth within 2.0X1.3 cm. Ovate, readily separable from fruit Very small or none Large and narrow Large and rounded Analysis of the above chart shows that S. x teixeiriana is similar to S. romanzoffiana (figs. 16-18) in the rachis length, the number of pinnae per leaf, the short beaked fruit, and seed being inseparable from the fruit; and it resembles S. oleracea (fig. 19) in the width of the middle pinnae, the number of spadix branches, the seed shape, and the large seed cavity. The hybrid is more or less intermediate between the two species in the length of the branched part of the spadix and the individual spadix branches, the width of the female flowers, the length and diameter of the fruit, the shape of the endo- carp cavity, and the length of the seed. In addition to this, the length of the middle pinnae of all three taxa is about equal and the female flowers in S. x teixeiriana are about 2 mm. longer than those of S. romanzoffiana. CLASSMAN: SYAGRUS OLERACEA AND RELATED TAXA 33 FIG. 19. Syagrus oleracea. J. C. Gomes holding inflorescence and infructescence. Leaves on ground. Locality same as Figure 16. REFERENCES BARBOSA RODRIGUES, J. 1903. Sert. Palm. Bras. 1: t. 83-8^. BECCARI, O. 1886. Le Palme incluse nel genera Cocos Linn. Malpighia 1: 448. BONDAR, G. 1939. Palmeiras da Bahia. Inst. Centr. Fom. Econ. Bahia Bol. 6: 9-10 1964. Palmeiras do Brasil. 80, 84. Sao Paulo. GLASSMAN, S. 1967. Collecting palms in Brazil. Principes 11: 41-52, figs. 1-12. Publications 1052, 1053, 1054, and 1055 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS URBANA