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161
NEW PLANTS FROM THE ANDES.
By Edmuxd G. Baker, F.L.S.
(Plate 297).
Among the plants collected by Mr. Edward Whymper in 1880,
on the Andes, and recently worked out at the British Museum, was
the following new species of Heiosis:—
Helosis Whymperi, n. sp. — Rhizoma deforme globosum
lobatum, pedunculi erecti basi iuvolucello annulari donati, capitula
sphrerica vel elliptica androgyna fills articulatis operta juniora
squamis peltatis hexagonis vel pentagonis velata, fl. ^ perianthium
tubulosum, limbi lobis 3-valvatis, antherae 3, filamentis brevissimis,
fl. $ sessiles, ovarium oblongum obtusum compressum, styli
2 filiformes, ovulum 1 pendulum.
Hab. Machachi, eighteen miles south of Quito, Ecuador.
Alt. 9800 ft.
Measurements. Pedmicle : length, 1-3 in. ; diameter |- in.
Capitula: diameter, 1-1| in. Scales: diameter, i in.
These measurements are taken from dried specimens.
This very distinct species of Helosis differs from the other
members of the same genus in its large, tuberculated and consolidated
rhizome resembling Corijnaa. The floral structure, however,
is that of a Helosis, the perianth of the male flowers having
three distinct segments and not being campanulate, and the
stamens are divided a short distance below the anthers. In its
floral characters then it resembles Helosis, and in its rhizome
CorijyicBa ; it is therefore interesting as forming a connecting link
between these two genera.
The capitula contain both male and female flowers, and are
proterogynous ; the female flowers protrude their styles from the
dense mass of subjacent articulate threads immediately on the fall
of the scales. The male flowers, as just mentioned, have the filaments
free a short distance below the anthers, and these latter
burst introrsely. I am not aware that any species of Helosis have
been described since Sir J. D. Hooker's revision of the genus in
the ' Transactions of the Linnean Society,' xxii. pp. 55—60. This
will therefore make the third, the others being H. guyanensis Rich.,
and H. mexicana Lieb.
The following list of Fungi may be of interest, since the specimens
were collected by Mr. Whymper at a great elevation, in an
equatorial region. They have been named by Mr. Massee and Mr.
]\I array :
(hiiphalia umhellifera Fr. In Monte Antisana, Ecuador,
13,000 ped. alt. No. 1512 A.
Ai/tirirm satjatus Fr. IMachachi. No. 1320.
I'sUocijhe sp. In Monte Antisana, Ecuador, 13,000 ped. alt.
No. 1512 A.
Cantharellus Whymperi, n. sp., Mass. ct Murr.— Cinercus,
pileo c convexo cxplauato, carnosulo; lamcUis intogris vol dicho-
JouKNAL OF Botany.—Vol. 28. [.Junk, 1890.] m