Pedersenia costaricensis (Standl.) J. Holub

Iresine costaricensis Standley, Contr. U. S. Nat. Herb. 18: 94
1916.
Scandent shrub, much branched, the branches stout, terete, smooth, the younger ones and those of the inflorescence densely pubescent with short stout appressed fulvous hairspetioles stout, 7-17 mm. long; leaf-blades oval to oblong-elliptic, 11-18 cm. long, 4^7 cm wide' abruptly acuminate or long-attenuate at the apex, obtuse at the base, thick, sparsely shortvillous on the upper surface and deep-green, appressed-pilose beneath with slender stiff hairs • flowers perfect, in a loose, much branched, naked, terminal panicle sometimes 5 dm. long the' branches slender, spreading, opposite or verticillate, the spikelets 3 mm. thick or less, sessile, few-flowered, the rachis canescent; bracts and bractlets less than half as long as the sepals! suborbicular, fuscous-stramineous, sparsely short-villous; sepals oval-oblong, 1.5 mm. long,' obtuse, 3-nerved, brownish-fuscous, densely pilose, the hairs stiff, grayish, scarcely exceeding the sepals; filaments shorter than the sepals, the staminodia short, entire; style short, the stigmas short and stout.
Type locality : L,as Vueltas, Tucurrique, Costa Rica. Distribution: In thickets, vicinity of the type locality.