Neea pittieri Standl.

Neea pittieri Standley, Contr. U. S. Nat. Herb. 13: 383. 1911
A shrub or small tree, the older branches stout, gray, the branchlets stout, compressed, sparsely and minutely puberulent when young, glabrate in age, the internodes usually elongate ; leaves opposite and alternate, the petioles stout, 0.7-2.5 cm. long, the blades oval, ovate-oval, or rounded-ovate, 19-30 cm. long, 9.5-12.5 cm. wide, broadest at or below the middle, rounded or obtuse at the base, abruptly cuspidate-acuminate at the apex or rarely gradually acuminate, with a triangular or linear-triangular, acuminate or attenuate acumen, the blades thin, deepgreen above, sparsely puberulent and minutely puncticulate, beneath slightly paler, minutely puberulent and raphidulous, the margins plane or subrevolute, the lateral veins prominent beneath, 11-14 on each side, widely arcuate-ascending; peduncles of the staminate cymes 3.5-7.5 cm. long, terminal, rather slender, densely puberulent, or glabrate in age, the cymes
many-flowered, 5-12 cm. broad, the slender branches divaricate, the flowers on pedicels 1—3 mm. long, the bractlets linear-lanceolate, 1—1.5 mm. long, acuminate, puberulent, the perianth tubular, slightly constricted at the throat, 7-9 mm. long, puberulent, 5-dentate, the teeth
4
triangularovate, acute; stamens 5-10, very unequal, the longest filaments 5 mm. long, the anthers 1.5-2 mm. long; pistillate cymes similar to the staminate ones, 5-6 cm. broad, on peduncles 2.5-5.5 cm. long, the branches stouter, the flowers subsessile or on stout pedicels 5 mm. long, the perianth tubular, 7-8 mm. long, puberulent, the style included; fruit 8-9 mm. long, oblongellipsoid, the utricle obscurely costate; seed ellipsoid, 6 mm. long, brown, smooth.
Type locality: Valley of Tuis, Costa Rica, at an altitude of 1000 meters. Distribution: Costa Rica and Panama.