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112 FIELDIANA: BOTANY, VOLUME 28
omnibus glabris, area dorsal! nulla; sepalis late rail bus fere aequilateris,
late lanceolatis, ala carinali e basi ad apicem manifeste
s cabrid ulo-c ilia ta.
Type in herb. Chi. Nat. Hist. Mus., collected around rills on rocky
dry ridge top, summit of Cerro Duida, Brocchinia Hills, Territorio
Federal Amazonas, alt. 1700-1980 ni., September 1, 1944, Julian A.
Steyermark 58168; same locality, but in slightly more moist places,
Steyermark 58178. The last collection, although sterile, is undoubtedly
referable to this new species. It has leaves up to 40 cm.
long, and the sheaths at the base are much more conspicuously
scabridulous than in the type specimen.
This species is related to X. stenophylloides Malme, also from the
summit of Duida, and to X, stenophylla Alb. Nils son. It is characterized
by the scabridulous-ciliolate keel of the lateral sepals, the
torulose leaves and scapes, small few-flowered heads with dark
brown bracts without a dorsal area, the purple sheaths of the flowering
scapes, and the strongly sulcate-nerved leaves and scapes.
From X. stenophylloides
it
may be distinguished by the scabridciliolate,
instead of entire eciliate keel of the lateral sepal, purlish
instead of brown sheaths of the scape, and scabridulous instead
of glabrous leaf sheaths. From X. stenophylla
it differs in the
shorter, more rigid, and more prolonged leaf sheaths, scabrid instead
of ciliate leaf sheaths, and shorter differently shaped lower bracts of
the heads.
Xyris setigera Oliver, var. elongata Steyermark, var. nov.
A typo differt foliis longioribus et marginibus ciliatis brevioribus
remotioribus.
Leaves 15-30 cm. long, the margins with shorter and less crowded
cilia than in the species.
Type in herb. Chi. Nat. Hist. Mus., collected on dry sandy and
rocky sandstone exposures on level ground adjacent to swamp on
plateau portion of southeast-facing slopes, Ptari-tepui' state of
Bolivar, alt. 1600 m., November 1, 1944, Julian A, Steyermark
59660; Ptari-tepui, Brocchinia-Stegolepis-Heliamphora swamp on
southwest-facing shoulder, alt. 2200 m., November 2, 1944, Steyermark
59782; swampy ground following streamlet, Gran Sabana, between
Mission of Santa Teresita de Kavanayen northwest to Rio
Karuai, on large mesa, alt. 1220 m., October 26, 1944, Steyermark
59336a; and savanna, vicinity of "Misia Kathy Camp", on mesa
between Ptari-tepui and Sororopan-tepui, alt. 1615 m., November
15-17, 1944, Steyermark 60239.
From typical X. setigera Oliver of Mount Roraima, this variety
has become differentiated by elongating the leaves and in reducing
the size and number of the cilia on the leaf margins.