Scolosanthus strictus Urb.

Scolosanthus strictus Urban, Symb. Ant. 9: 533. 1928
A shrub or small tree, the lateral branches elongate, unarmed or terminating in a trifurcate or rarely twice trifurcate spine, the young branchlets minutely papillose-pilosulous, terete, brownish; stipule-sheath truncate, 0.5 mm. long, soon deciduous; petioles stout, 0.5-1 mm. long; leaf-blades ovate, ovate-elliptic, or ovate-oblong, 1-1.8 cm. long, 0.5-1 cm. wide, obtuse, rounded or obtuse at the base, pergamentaceous or coriaceous, glabrous, dark-green and lustrous above, the costa prominent, the lateral nerves 3 or 4 on each side, prominulous, ascending at an angle of 30-35°, paler beneath, the costa prominulous, the nerves obsolete; flowers 1-5 on short branchlets or borne upon the spines, the pedicels 0.5 mm. long or less; hypanthium subcylindric, subcompressed ; calyx-lobes 4, triangular, one third as long as the hypanthium; corolla-lobes obtuse; anthers narrowly lanceolate, subobtuse; style shortly bilobate.
Type locality: Limestone soil, Caimanera, near Guantanamo, Oriente, Cuba. Distribution: Known only from the type locality.