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BOTANICAL EXPLORATION IN VENEZUELA - I 117
mm. long, erect; ovary black or dark-brown, globose, about 0.6 mm.
long and wide, glabrous, 2-celled, 2-ovulate.
Type in herb. New York Botanical Garden, collected in swampy
meadow south of Divina Pastora, Gran Sabana, between Divina
Pastora on the Rio Kukenan and Santa Elena, south of Mount Roraima,
state of Bolivar, alt. 915-1005 m., October 3, 1944, Julian A. Steyermark
59264, The collector notes "leaves soft, rich green; heads
white". The dried material, however, does not exhibit any whiteness
on the heads.
Eriocaulon Steyermarkii Moldenke, sp. nov.
Herba; foliis caespitosis erectis vel divergentibus tenuibus 6-7
cm. longis longe attenuatis glabris basin versus plusminusve fenestratis;
vaginis arete adpressis 4-6 cm. longis pertenuis valde fenestratis
glabris, ad apicem oblique fissis; pedunculis 1 vel 2, 18-20
cm. longis erectis stramineis 5-costatis glabris; capitulis albis
hemisphaericis 8 mm. diam.; floribus dimeris.
Herb; stems much abbreviated; leaves cespitose, erect or spreading,
thin-textured, 6-7 cm. long, about 3 mm. wide at the mid-point,
long-attenuate, glabrous, more or less fenestrate toward the expanded
base; sheaths 4-6 cm. long, very thin-textured, closely
appressed to the peduncle, conspicuously fenestrate, glabrous,
obliquely split at the apex, the blade attenuate-acute, erect, and
closely appressed; peduncles 1 or 2 per plant, 18-20 cm. long,
erect, stramineous, 5-costate, glabrous; heads white, hemispheric,
about 8 mm. in diameter; involucral bractlets black, elliptic or
elliptic-obovate, concave on the inner and convex on the outer surface,
about 3 mm. long, 1.6-2 mm. wide, obtuse at the apex, more or
less pilose-pubescent with short white hairs toward the apex on the
outer surface, the hairs easily rubbed off; receptacle glabrous; receptacular
bractlets obovate, blackish, about 2.5 mm. long and 1.5
mm. wide, acute at the apex, pilose on the back at the apex; staminate
florets: sepals 2, blackish on the upper half, separate to the
base, falcate-conduplicate, about 2.5 mm. long and 1 mm. wide, somewhat
cucullate at the apex, pilose-pubescent toward the apex on the
outer surface with erect white easily broken-off hairs; petals 2, unequal,
connate into a slender glabrous hyaline tube for 1.5 mm., the
free terminal part Ungulate, one about 2 mm. long, the other 1 mm.
long, both about 1 mm. wide and densely white-pilose on the back
and bearded at the apex, each with a small black gland at the middle
below the apex, widely divergent, subhyaline; stamens 4, 2 usually
anantherous; filaments capillary, about 0.4 mm. long, glabrous, borne
at the apex of the corolla-tube, adnate at base to the corolla; anthers
black; pistillate florets: sepals 2, conduplicate , slightly falcate,
oblanceolate, about 2.5 mm. long and 1 mm. wide, acute or apiculate
at the apex, pilose-bearded at the apex on the outer surface; petals
2, equal, subhyaline, spatulate -obovate, about 2.5 mm. long and 1.5
mm. wide, separate practically to the short-clawed base, acute at