Main | Family List (MO) | Family List (INBio) | Cutting Edge Draft Treatments | Guidelines | Checklist | Citing | Editors The Cutting Edge Volume XVIII, Number 2, April 2011 News and Notes | Leaps and Bounds | Germane Literature | Season's Pick | Annotate your copy ARISTOLOCHIACEAE.  During his ramblings in the Zarcero region (see Hammel & Grayum, under "Germane Literature"), Manual co-PI Barry Hammel happened upon a distinctive Aristolochia previously unknown to him.  This has since been determined from an image as Aristolochia pichinchensis Pfeifer by our colleague Mario Blanco (FLAS).  Oddly, A. pichinchensis (regarded by some as a synonym of A. grandiflora Sw.) is otherwise known only from the Pacific lowlands of Ecuador, prompting Mario to suggest that the Costa Rican population must be introduced.  Having trod in the very spot, Barry believes Occam's razor cuts otherwise, but says he might be convinced of Mario's view if that same sp., not known from anywhere as a cultivated ornamental, were found in yards in neaby towns, e.g., Zarcero itself.  And there the matter rests. GESNERIACEAE.  According to a recent annotation of Garwood et al. 1303 (MO) by Fred L. Barrie (MO) and Laurence E. Skog (US), Columnea sericeovillosa Suess. is to be regarded as an accepted sp., and will presumably be so treated in the impending Flora mesoamericana Gesneriaceae account.  The name C. sericeovillosa was nowhere mentioned in the Manual Gesneriaceae treatment by Ricardo Kriebel, even though the type is from Costa Rica; in any event, the Garwood specimen (along with many others) was unavailable to us, having been on loan to US.  For more on Gesneriaceae, see under "Annotate Your Copy." MYRTACEAE. A 1973 collection by Costa Rican botanist Luis Poveda (JVR) has been determined as Eugenia farameoides A. Rich., a sp. not previously attributed to Costa Rica, e.g., in the Manual or Flora mesoamericana.  Curiously, the determination is by family specialist Fred R. Barrie (MO) and dates from 2005, prior to the aforementioned treatments of Eugenia, both authored by Barrie himself.  Somes things inevitably fall through the cracks, despite everyone's best intentions, and this must be one of those.  Among Costa Rican Eugenia spp., E. farameoides keys (in Flora mesoamericana) closest to E. acapulcensis Steud., from which it differs in having more conspicuous secondary leaf veins and by the structure of the bracteolar involucre.  Pove's collection is from La Paz de San Ramón, at about 1100 m elevation on the Pacific slope of the Cordillera de Tilarán.  Thanks to Daniel Santamaría (INB) for bringing this to our attention. TOP