FIELDIANA: BOTANY

A Continuation of the

BOTANICAL SERIES

of

FIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY

VOLUME 32

FIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY

CHICAGO, U.S.A.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. A New Guatemalan Spigelia. By Dorothy N. Gibson 1

2. Three New Nicaraguan Epidendrums. By Alfonso H. Heller 7

3. Syagrus oleracea ( Mart. ) Becc. and Closely Related Taxa. By

S. F. Classman 13

4. Tropical American Plants, X. By Louis O. Williams 35

5. Two New Guatemalan Tournefortias. By Dorothy N. Gibson 65

6. A New Member oiMorganella. By Patrick) Ponce de Leon 69

7. A New Odontoglossum from Nicaragua. By Alfonso H. Heller 73

8. Studies in the Palm Genus Syagrus Mart. II. By S. F. Classman 77

9. Revision of the Genus Vascellum ( Lycoperdaceae ) . By Patrick)

Ponce de Leon 109

.0. A Conspectus of the Palm Genus Butia Becc. By S. F. Classman 127

LI. Studies in American Plants, II. By Dorothy N. Gibson 173

L2. Tropical American Plants, XI. By Louis O. Williams 179

13. The Juglandaceae of Guatemala. By Louis O. Williams and Antonio

Molina R 207

L4. An Overlooked Genus of the Scrophulariaceae. By Louis O. Williams 211

L5. A Synopsis of the Palm Genus Syagrus Mart. By S. F. Classman 215

L6. A New Hybrid in the Palm Genus Syagrus Mart. By S. F. Classman 241

U

THE JUGLANDACEAE OF GUATEMALA

LOUIS 0. WILLIAMS

AND

ANTONIO MOLINA R.

AN OVERLOOKED GENUS OF THE

SCROPHULARIACEAE

LOUIS 0. WILLIAMS

A SYNOPSIS OF THE PALM GENUS

SYAGRUS MART.

S. F. GLASSMAN

A NEW HYBRID IN THE PALM GENUS

SYAGRUS MART.

S. F. GLASSMAN

FIELDIANA: BOTANY

VOLUME 32, NUMBERS 13, 14, 15, 16

Published by

FIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY

JULY 24, 1970

The Library of the

THE JUGLANDACEAE OF GUATEMALA

LOUIS 0. WILLIAMS

Chief Curator, Botany, Field Museum of Natural History

AND

ANTONIO MOLINA R.

Field Associate

AN OVERLOOKED GENUS OF THE

SCROPHULARIACEAE

LOUIS O. WILLIAMS

Chief Curator, Botany, Field Museum of Natural History

A SYNOPSIS OF THE PALM GENUS

SYAGRUS MART.

S. F. GLASSMAN

Research Associate, Palms, Field Museum of Natural History

University of Illinois at Chicago Circle

A NEW HYBRID IN THE PALM GENUS

SYAGRUS MART.

S. F. GLASSMAN

Research Associate, Palms, Field Museum of Natural History

University of Illinois at Chicago Circle

FIELDIANA: BOTANY

VOLUME 32, NUMBERS 13, 14, 15, 16

Published by

FIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY

JULY 24, 1970

CONTENTS

PAGE

The Juglandaceae of Guatemala by Louis 0. Williams and Antonio Molina R. 207

An Overlooked Genus of the Scrophulareaceae by Louis O. Williams . . . .211

A Synopsis of the Palm Genus Syagrus Mart, by S. F. Glassman 215

A New Hybrid in the Palm Genus Syagrus Mart, by S. F. Glassman . . . .241

FIELDIANA . BOTANY

Volume 32, No. 13 July 24, 1970 Publication 1101

The Juglandaceae of Guatemala

Louis O. WILLIAMS

CHIEF CURATOR, BOTANY

FIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY

AND

ANTONIO MOLINA R.

FIELD ASSOCIATE

The Juglandaceae as treated in the "Flora of Guatemala" by

Dr. Standley and Dr. Wayne E. Manning in 1952 was an unsatis-

factory assemblage of plants with two of them known only from

sterile material. There were thought to be four native species of the

family in Guatemala a fifth one was presumed to be the cultivated

walnut, Juglans regia L. The four native species were distributed in

three genera, Alfaroa, Engelhardtia, and Juglans. These genera we

shall mention briefly in that order.

ALFAROA. Dr. Manning prepared the manuscript for Alfaroa.

Much sterile material was determined as A. costaricensis Standl. by

Dr. Manning. Standley had made the original determinations of

much of this material. In all of the material available from Guate-

mala not a single fruiting or flowering specimen is known. In the

discussion of this plant Dr. Manning says "The status of the Guate-

malan tree referred here is somewhat uncertain because so far only

sterile collections have been made." Again he says "It is possible

that the Guatemalan tree is actually a species of Engelhardtia. ..."

Still again "It is to be expected that the Guatemalan tree represents

a distinct species. ..." To the best of our knowledge no material

of this plant (or plants?) has been collected that will clarify the

generic or the specific status of it or, in fact, indicate whether one

or two species are involved. We presume that the plant is not A.

costaricensis but we have no guess what it may be, even that it is

an Alfaroa.

The genus Alfaroa was described by Standley in 1927. When

Manning wrote the account of it for the "Flora of Guatemala" in

1952 the original species, A. costaricensis, was the only one known.

Exploration of the Mexican and Central American forests since that

date has resulted in the recognition of four additional species-

Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 75-12^81

207

208 FIELDIANA: BOTANY, VOLUME 32

A. hondurensis L. Wms., A. manningii Leon, A. mexicana D. E.

Stone, and A. williamsii A. Molina. We transfer Engelhardtia gua-

temalensis Standl. to Alfaroa below, making a total of six species

now recognized.

Alfaroa guatemalensis (Standl.) Williams & Molina, comb. nov.

Engelhardtia guatemalensis Standl. Field Mus. Bot. 22: 12. 1940.

This species was described from a sterile specimen that came from

the swamps near Tactic, Alta Verapaz. We have collected it from the

same locality and have it with fruits (Williams et al., 4.0693). The

fruits indicate that the plant is an Alfaroa, related to A. hondurensis

L. Wms. Standley prepared the account of Engelhardtia guatema-

lensis in the "Flora." A statement in the discussion is of interest:

"When fruiting material of Engelhardtia and the tree here referred

to Alfaroa 1 has been collected in ample quantity, it is possible that

some surprising results may be obtained." Our field work early in

1969, when we made a special attempt to get these Juglandaceous

plants, has confirmed the "surprising results" so far as this plant is

concerned.

Standley states that E. guatemalensis is abundant in Alta Vera-

paz then goes on to tell about the resemblance of the plant to amche

which is Rhus striata, and a particularly virulent member of that

genus, and to say that the Engelhardtia was a conspicuous and abun-

dant tree. In January of 1969 we searched the forests of Alta and

Baja Verapaz but found the plant in only one place, and that the

same place where Standley had collected the type many years before.

We are curious as to what has happened in the interval since the type

was collected and when we recollected the species. We suspect that

Standley perhaps confused this tree, which proves to be an Alfaroa,

with something else but we do not know what for we saw nothing

similar in the forest except Rhus striata and Standley was well aware

of that.

ENGELHARDTIA. The genus Engelhardtia is deleted from the

"Flora of Guatemala," and the single species is transferred above

to Alfaroa.

JUGLANS. The account of Juglans in the "Flora of Guatemala"

was prepared by Dr. Manning and in it he described two new species

of Juglans, J. guatemalensis and J. steyermarkii, and included the

common walnut, J. regia L., as a cultigen.

1 Which we have mentioned above.

WILLIAMS AND MOLINA: JUGLANDACEAE 209

Juglans guatemalensis Manning (Fieldiana, Bot. 24, pt. 3: 356.

1952) has proven to be indistinguishable from Juglans olanchana

Standl. & L. Wms. (Ceiba 1: 76. 1950) originally described from

Honduras. It is an exceedingly common tree in the region of Alta

and Baja Verapaz and must have been more abundant years ago.

Some of the beams in the hotel "La Posada," which was built about

40 years ago, were being replaced because of termite action while we

were there. These proved to be walnut wood and probably of the

species still common in the region. Some of the finest and largest

trees that we saw were in a small park back of the municipal building

in Coban. We estimated these to be at least 25-30 meters tall.

A curious aspect of this walnut is that the Quecchi Indians of

Alta Verapaz do not have a word for it, a most unusual situation

since most all useful plants have well established names in Quecchi.

The common word used is nogal, the Spanish generic word for wal-

nut trees.

Juglans steyermarkii Manning (I.e. 358) is known only from the

type. The species seems to be amply distinct.

Juglans regia L. We have not seen the English Walnut in Guate-

mala. Dr. Manning comments that the single sterile specimen that

he saw is not typical and perhaps represents a hybrid.

Publications 1101, 1102, 1103, 1104

*

X

UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS-URBAN*