Oreopanax steyermarkii A. C. Sm.

Oreopanax steyermarkii A. C. Smith, sp. nov.*
Tree to 13 m. high, sometimes epiphytic and then small, the branchlets stout, terete, rugose, glabrous or sparsely pilose with pale sessile stellate many-branched hairs; leaves simple, the petiole stout, 2.5-9 cm. long, swollen at the base and the apex, soon glabrate, the blade thick-coriaceous, narrowly elliptic-oblong, 15-30 cm. long, 5-10 cm. broad, obtuse at the base, short-acuminate at the apex, entire and narrowly recurved at the margins, glabrous above, glabrous or sparsely stellate-pilose beneath (the hairs sessile, many-branched), pinnately veined, the costa prominent, the lateral nerves 8-14 per side, erecto-patent, slightly raised or subimmersed above, elevated beneath, the veinlets immersed and obscure; staminate inflorescence copiously branched, up to 12 cm. long and broad, the peduncles 2-5 mm. long, with the branches densely stellate-puberulcnt, the heads oblong-ellipsoid, 4—7 mm. long, 3-5 mm. broad, 20-28-flowered, the subtending bracts and bracteoles inconspicuous, ovate, puberulent without; flowers 5-merous, the calyx obconic, 1-1.5 mm. long and in diameter, the limb essentially truncate; petals membranous, oblong-deltoid, about 1.5 mm. long; filaments slender, short, the anthers oblong, about 1 mm long; styles 2, about 1 mm. long, free to the base; fruiting inflorescence up to 15 cm. long and broad, the rachis and branches stout, sparsely puberulent, the principal bracts coriaceous, broadly ovate, minute, the peduncles stout, about 1 cm. long, the fruits 2 or 3 per head; outer bracts of the head 2 or 3, broadly semiorbicular, 3-4 mm. long, about 7 mm. broad, rounded at the apex, puberulent without, the bracteoles 2 subtending each fruit, similar to the bracts; fruits coriaceous, strongly rugose when dry, subglobose, 6-8 mm. in diameter, the styles usually 5, free to the base, deciduous, the locules and seeds usually 5, the seeds large, about 3.5 mm. long.
Type: Guatemala, Dept. Zacapa, Slopes of Monte Virgen, around summit of mountain, alt. 2200-2400 m., Steyermark 42649, Jan. 12 or 13, 1942 (in herb. Arnold Arb.).
Distribution: Guatemala, alt. 1400-2500 m., known from the type collection, from Steyermark 48935, Dept. Huehuetenango, between Xoxlac and Nucapuxlac, Sierra de los Cuchumatanes, and from Steyermark 4S676, Dept. Huehuetenango, between Yulhuitz and Maxbal, Sierra de los Cuchumatanes.