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52 FIELDIANA: BOTANY, VOLUME 28
Tribe
SCLERIAE
Scleria tepuiensis Core, sp. nov. 7
Rhizomate ligneo, squamis atro-rubris intecto; culmo 1-2 m. alto,
triquetro; foliis 30 era. longis, 5-12 ram. latis, glabris, rigidis, costa
subtus et margintbus scabris; vaginis glabris, triquetris; ligula
abbreviata, rotundata; paniculis 5-15 cm. longis, purpurascentibus,
densis; bracteis foliaceis; spiculis masculis longe pedicellatis,
numerosis; spiculis foemineis paucis, in ramorum basi subsessilibus;
squamis masculis anguste mucronatis; squamis foemineis lanceolatis;
hypogynio sine lob is; achaenio albo, 2-3 mm. longo, hirtello,
obtuse trigono. Scleriae cyperinae proxime affinis.
Rhizome thick, hard, nodose; culms slender, shining, the angles
smooth or somewhat roughened; leaves chartaceous, scabrous on the
margins and main veins beneath; sheaths smooth or somewhat roughened
on the angles, wingless or very narrowly winged; ligule rotundtriangular,
with a thin, scarious margin (not appendaged); panicles
terminal, single, or with additional smaller ones in the upper axils,
ovate to ovate-rotund, dense, much-branched, brown-purple, rachis
scabrous, the branches short, divergent; bracts about 3, exceeding
the inflorescence; bractlets linear-setaceous; staminate spikelets
numerous, linear, 5-6 mm. long, on slender peduncles 5-6 mm. long;
pistillate spikelets solitary at the bases of the branches; staminate
scales narrow, purplish; pistillate scales glabrous, purplish; hypogynium
rigid, wrinkled, white, the lobes none or very obscure;
achene white or sometimes purplish-tinged.
Type in herb. Chi. Nat. Hist. Mus., isotype in herb. West Virginia
University, collected on summit of Cerro Duida, Savanna Hills,
Territorio Federal Amazonas, alt. 1025-1200 m., September 2, 1944,
Julian A. Steyermarh 58232. Also collected in same locality, Tate
738 (NY). BRITISH GUIANA: Paulo, near Mt. Roraima, alt. 4000
Tate 152 (NY).
ft.,
This species is closely related to S. cyperina, to which the Tate
specimens had been doubtfully referred. It differs in lacking the
pronounced lobes of the hypogyniura characteristic of that species,
and also in the nature of the ligule, which is chartaceous throughout
in S. cyperina, but membranaceous-margined in S. tepuiensis. The
leaves in the latter species also average somewhat narrower, at
least in the specimens observed. Only two other known members of
the section Hymenolytrum, in addition to S. tepuiensis, lack the
large, conspicuous, scarious appendage to the ligule found in most
members of that section. The third species, S. grandis, is a very
robust plant with leaves 18-35 mm. wide.
The specific epithet refers to its occurrence on sandstone mesas
of Venezuela and British Guiana, which are known locally as tepuis.
tj
By Earl L. Core