78c.  Dalea ayavacensis Humboldt, Bonpland & Kunth var. viridescens Barneby

(Plate LXXX)

Foliage green, the leaflets glabrous to thinly pilosulous above; spikes, due to the short bracts, only 12-13 mm diam; calyx 4.7 mm long, the tube 2.2 mm, the dorsal tooth 2.5 mm long; keel 5 mm long, the claws 1.9 mm, the blades 3.4 mm long, 2.2 mm wide; androecium 6.2 mm long, the longer filaments free for 2 mm. — Collections: 1 (typus).

Habitat not recorded, known only from the type-locality on a small affluent of Rio Maranon, at 1500 m, in s. Jaen, Dept. Cajamarca, Peru. — Flowering in June.

Dalea ayavacensis var. viridescens (growing green, of the glabrate foliage) Barneby, var. nov., a var. killipii, cum qua floribus parvulis congruit, foliis parce pilosulis viridibus, bracteis praeter imas dorso glabris in caudam breviter subulatam 1-2.5 mm tantum longam abeuntibus, dentibus calycinis abbreviatis dorsali ± 2.5 (nec 4-5.5) mm longo, a var. ayavacensi, quoad pubem simili, carinae laminis parvis pallide coerulescentibus ± 3.4 (nec 4.5-6) mm, androecioque ± 6.2 (nec 8.5-10.5) mm longis ulterius distans. — PERU. Cajamarca. Jaen: Colasay, 1500 m, June, 1963, Felix Woytkowski 8016. — Holotypus, US! isotypus, K!

A peculiar plant, resembling var. ayavacensis in its thinly pubescent leaves and var. killipii in its small corolla and short androecium, but different from all other known forms of D. ayavacensis in the shorter tails of the dorsally bald bracts and the substantially shorter calyx-teeth, the dorsal one only a trifle (and not 1-2.5 times) as long as the tube. Before I had appreciated the relationship of D. killipii to D. ayavacensis I interpreted var. viridescens as a variety of the former, of which it has the small, milky-blue petals, short androecium, and linear calyx glands.