Jaimehintonia (Amaryllidaceae: Allieae), a New Genus from Northeastern Mexico B. L. Turner Iepartment of Botany, University of Texas, Austin, Texas 78713, U.S.A.ABSTRACT. A new genus and species, Jaimehin-tonia gypsophila, from gypseous soils of NuevoLeon, Mexico, is described and illustrated. It belongsto the tribe Allieae of the family Amaryllidaceae,where it is most closely related to -lndrostephiumand associated genera. It differs from most of thesein having, in combination, coarsely tunicate bulbs,purple to pink perianths, and a well-developed hy-panthium to which the gynoecium is not fused. Continuing identification and curation of gypso-philic plants from Nuevo Leon, Mexico, has revealedthe following novelty.Jaimehintonia gypsophila B. Turner, gen. et sp. nov. TYPE: Mexico. Nuevo Leon: along highway 68, 15 mi. S of Ascension and 3.5 ni. NW of La Escondida. ca. 97 mi. N of Matehuala, steep exposed gypsum hill adjacent to the road, "associated with ferns, Dalea and -gare," 24 Sep. 1973, Jamrs L. Rereal r3126, with 1. 1. .twood (holotype, TEX). Figure 1. Herba bulbi tunicis grosse fibrosis. Folia basalia paeneteretia 12 15 cm longa. Scapus 25-30 cm longus, um-bellam apicalem florum 3-6 ferens, umbella bracteis 3-O scariosis lineari-lanceolatis 3 -5 imm longisque subtenta.Pedicelli 3 4 cm longi ad sumunum articulati. Hypanthiumnroseumi vel purpurascens anguste tubulare in 10 nmmbasali, versus apicem gradatim dilatatum; tepala 6 ex-pansa elliptica vel elliptici-oblanceolata 1-nervata 10 12mim longa 3 4 mm lataque. Ovarium glabrum stipitatumnhypanthio non adnatum. Bulb turbinate with very coarse fibrous coat, ca.3 cm long x 2 cm wide, not deeply buried, perhapsonly 2 3 cm below the soil surface. Ieaves 12 15cm long, 1.0 1.5 nmm wide. terete or somewhat4-sided in cross section (dried), glabrous, the anglesadorned with minute clear pustulate cells, these ar-ranged in lines. Scapes naked, terete, 25 30 cmlong, glabrous, except for very scattered minuterecurved callosities. Flowers 3 0 to an inflorescence,arranged in an apical umbel, the base of the umbelsubtended by 3 6 linear-lanceolate scarious bracts3 5 nun long. Pedicels 3 4 cmn long. lHypanthiumreportedly "purple to pink or rarely white," tubularbelow for about 10 nmm, then gradually flaring toNOVON 3: 86-88. 1993.the apex, the hypanthium or fused portion 16-20mm long, 4-6 mm wide at the top, the tepals ellipticto elliptic-oblanceolate, somewhat spreading, 10-12mm long, 3-4 mm wide, 1-nervate, the apices obtuseto rounded. Stamens 6, the filaments ca. 8 mm long,united below into a short scarious tube ca. 1 mmlong; anthers basifixed, yellow, ca. 2.1 mm long.Ovary glabrous, elliptic, ca. 4 mm long, 2 mm wide,borne on a free stipe 8-12 mm long; style somewhatlonger than the filaments, the stigma + capitate.Capsule ellipsoid, 8 10 mm high, 3 4 mmi wide,3-valvate, each carpel containing ca. 16 seeds. Seedsirregularly quadrate, black, the surfaces finely mu-ricate (40 x). This remarkable plant was first called to my at-tention by the Hinton collection cited below. I strug-gled for an identification of the specimen, which lacked below-ground parts. In a search through sun-dry genera housed in the collection at II, TEX, I came upon another collection of the taxon by James Reveal among the unidentified materials of the Lil-iaceae, one that had a tunica-covered bulb and well-preserved flowers. Superficially, the two specimens are similar toA-ndrostephium coeruleum (Scheele) Torrey, havingpedicels jointed at the summit. the perianth segmentsunited into a distinct hypanthial tube, and the stip-itate ovary not fused with the hypanthium. Theylack, however, the prominent corolla tube or coronaof that species. They appear closely related to An-drostephium and cohorts, keying to this group inMoore's (1953) synoptical key to the American gen-era of the Allieae; among these (Anndrostephium,Bloomeria, Brodiaea, I)ichelastemma, l1uilla, Tri-teleia, Triteleiopsis), I could find no satisfactorygenus in which to position the present novelty. Thespecies of this group appear to be apportioned amonggenera (as currently accepted) distinguished by rath-er small differences. Such also appears to be truefor the Allieae in general. Without a comprehensivestudy of the tribe, however, and the identificationof groups that perhaps are more natural, the newspecies described here cannot be placed to genus.Its recognition as a monotypic genus is in keepingwith current classificatory trends.
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