1. Neriacanthus grandiflorus Leonard, sp. nov.
FIGURE 41
Suffrutescent plants up to 1 meter high; stems subquadrangular, glabrous, the basal portion about 5 mm. thick; leaf blades oblong-ellip- tic, 3 to 10 cm. long, 1.5 to 4.5 cm. wide, short-acuminate at apex (the tip itself blunt), gradually narrowed from middle or slightly above middle to base and decurrent on the petiole, the upper surface drying brown, the lower surface greenish brown, glabrous except the minutely and sparingly hirsute margins and the sparingly puberulous costa and veins (8 or 9 pairs), these fairly prominent; petioles 1 to 1.5 cm. long, glabrous; spikes terminal, about 8 cm. long and 3 cm. broad; peduncles 3-4 cm. long, glabrous; bracts greenish white, or at maturity white, glabrous, minutely and distantly punctate, oblong-elliptic, about 28 mm. long and 9 mm. wide, acutish, narrowed to 3 mm. at base, 10- or 12- veined, the margins minutely serrate toward tip, the teeth about 0.25 mm. long and 1.5 mm. broad at base; bract lets narrowly lanceolate, un- equal, the larger 8.5 mm. long and 1.25 mm. wide, the smaller one 8 mm. long and barely 1 mm. wide, both acute, parallel-nerved and glabrous, the costa prominent; calyx segments subequal, narrowly lanceolate, 1 cm. long, 1 to 1.5 mm. wide, acute, glabrous, finely parallel-nerved, the basal portion carinate and indurate; corolla lilac, 4 cm. long, glabrous without from base to middle of tube, thence minutely puberulous, glabrous within except the medial region, this minutely hirsute, the hairs about 0.25 mm. long, white, spreading, the tube narrowly cylindric, 1.5 mm. broad except at the regions of the anthers, here enlarged to 2 mm., the limb 1.5 cm. broad, the lobes spreading, obovate, about 1 cm. long and 6 to 8 mm. wide, rounded or shallowly emarginate; stamens inserted about 2 cm. above the base of the corolla tube, the filaments 1 mm. long, pilosulous; anthers 3 mm. long, their tips adherent; capsules glabrous, clavate, 1.5 cm. long, 5 mm. broad, 2.5 mm. thick, minutely punctate; retinacula 2.5 mm. long, nearly straight, the tips cucullate; mature seed not seen.  Type in the U. S. National Herbarium, No. 1852711, collected in forest of La Laguna, on the left bank of Río Sanguininí, Department of El Valle, Colombia, 1,250 to 1,400 meters altitude, December 10 to 20, 1943, by J. Cuatrecasas (No. 15625).
Neriacanthus grandiflorus is a well-marked species definitely distinct from N. lehmannianus and easily separated from it by its large lilac flowers and by the nearly glabrous leaf blades. In N. lehmannianus the flowers are white and do not exceed 2 cm. in length and the leaf blades are generally puberulous. Likewise the bracts of this new species are much larger than those of N. lehmannianus. At least some of them are as much as 23 mm. long, instead of only 15 mm.