Cassiinae pt 1 NY-Botanical_gardens_Vol. 35_1 - Copy.pdf - Antbase

312 MEMOIRS OF THE NEW YORK BOTANICAL GARDEN [VOL. 35
coming 10-17 cm; bracts Unear-attenuate 2.5^ mm, eariy dry caducous; pedicels
at and after anthesis 13-22 mm; sepals (dry) hvid-brown whh paler margins, httle
graduated, the broadly obovate inner ones 7-8 mm; petals yellow drying dark or
brownish-yeUow, except for the more pronounced claw of the vexillar one es­
sentially homomorphic, obovate-flabellate ±9.5-11 x 6 mm; androecium gla­
brous, the staminodes narrowly oblanceolate, their blade ±2 x 0.7-0.8 mm, the
filaments of 4 median stamens 1.6-2.5 mm, of 3 abaxial ones 2.6^ mm, the 7
fertUe anthers thin-walled, truncate and almost beakless, 2-porose at apex, those
of 4 median stamens pitched forward from filament and ±3.4 mm, those of 3
abaxial ones gently lunate-incurved 4 x 1-1.2 mm; ovary at anthesis 3 mm long,
densely white-barbate, the glabrous subulate style ±1 x 0.3 mm, scarcely in­
curved; ovules 9.
Pod obhquely ascending or dechned, the stipe ±2.5 mm, the narrowly oblong
piano-compressed, gently incurved body ±3 x 0.7 cm, abruptly contracted at
apex into an erect subulate point 2-2.5 mm, the papery valves (not seen fuUy
ripe) densely pilosulous; seeds not seen.—CoUections: 2.
Habitat not recorded, to be expected on brushy hillsides or talus of quebradas
near 3000 m, collected first by the botanists of the Malaspina expedition, ca.
1790, probably near Lima, known precisely only from the upper ChUlon vaUey
in the province of Canta, Peru.—Fl. VI-VII.
Mid-Andean Senna has been indifferently collected and in consequence is not
taxonomically stabiUzed; we are reluctant to multiply future problems by describ­
ing species from inadequate material. However we feel confident of the specific
status of-S. malaspinae, unique in its region because ofthe copious pubescence,
tiny cocoon-like brachystylous ovary and short pauciovulate piano-compressed
pod. The flowering typus was set aside during our preliminary work as probably
undescribed, and it was an unexpected pleasure to discover in Madrid and Flor­
ence (hb. Webb.) that exceUent fruiting material had been collected by botanists
ofthe Malaspina expedition, presumably by Nee or Haenke, almost two centuries
ago. In the diagnosis we have compared S. malaspinae with S. aymara, which
has flower and pod of simUar proportions, and consequently refer it to ser. Pachycarpae,
but we cannot be certain of the relationship until fully ripe seeds are
obtained, the presence or absence of areole on the testa being critical in this
connection. Senna malaspinae is dedicated to the memory of the able but un­
fortunate navigator Alessandro Malaspina who, after years of briUiant service to
the Spanish crown, died, an exile from his adopted country, near La Spezia in
northern Italy, 9 April 1809, aged 55.
98. Senna cumingii (Hooker & Arnott) Irwin & Barneby, comb. nov. Cassia
cumingU Hooker & Arnott in Hooker, Bot. MisceU. 3(2): 211. 1829.—
Typus infra sub var. cumingii indicatur.
Shrubs variable in habit, either erect or diffuse, then bushy and sometimes
wider than taU, at anthesis (0.3-)0.6-3 m, the old bark dark gray, the annotinous
branchlets, lf-stalks and axes of inflorescence puberulent or pUosulous with for­
wardly subappressed-ascending, mosriy straight or simply incurved, palhd lutescent
hairs of variable length, the longest up to 0.1-1.1 mm, the duU olivaceous
foUage subconcolorous, the lfts firm when mature, minutely or conspicuously
ciholate, usuaUy glabrous on upper face but rarely puberulent along midrib, the
dorsal face either glabrous or sparsely pUosulous, the inflorescence of leafy-brac­
teate racemes sometimes at first lateral but eventuaUy or from the first forming
a shortly exserted subcorymbiform panicle.