Diospyros hartmanniana, of cloud forests in Panama and Costa Rica, and Diospyros whitei, of lowland forests in central and eastern Panama, are described and illustrated. Their similarities to and differences from other Mesoamerican species of Diospyros are discussed. The genus Diospyros consists of approximately 500 species of small to large trees distributed throughout the tropics and subtropics of the world. The last worldwide revision of the family Ebenaceae was that of Hiern (1873), where some 250 species were recognized. Hiern recognized five genera, Royena L., Euclea Murray, Maba J. R. Forster & G. Forster, Tetraclis Hiern, and Diospyros L. In Diospyros s. str., Hiern recognized 14 sections defined on characters of the seed and inflorescence. Only a fraction of the approximately 80 New World taxa were included in Hiern's monograph. Bakhuizen van den Brink (1936), in monographing the Malaysian species of Ebenaceae, placed the genus Maba into synonymy with Diospyros at the rank of subgenus. He divided the Asian species of Diospyros into 36 sections, most of which are probably artificial (White, 1983). Royena and Maba are currently placed within the genus Diospyros s.l. (White, 1983), and Old World species previously regarded as Maba are placed in section Forsteria (Bakhuizen van den Brink) White. In his treatment of Ebenaceae for Flora Zambesiaca, White (1983) recognized 11 sections, most of which were endemic to Africa. Section Forsteria has several species in the New World and is defined by its possession of an ovary with three bi-ovulate locules. In Mesoamerica only D. inconstans Jacquin and D. salicifolia Willdenow are members of this group. For the rest of the taxa occurring in the Neotropics, no sectional classification has been proposed. In Asia, where some 200 species of Diospyros occur, the sectional classification proposed by Bakhuizen van den Brink (1936) has not been taken up in floras, and many species have been described relatively recently. In the course of preparing the treatment of Diospyros for Flora Mesoamericana the following new taxa were encountered. Diospyros hartmanniana S. Knapp, sp. nov. TYPE: Panama. Chiriquf: near Costa Rican border, ca. 13 road-km from Rio Sereno, Finca Hartmann, 1550-1750 m, 8?50'N, 82?45'W, 23 Oct. 1992, G. McPherson & P. M. Richardson 15959 (holotype, BM; isotypes, MO, PMA not seen). Figure 1. Species haec a Diospyros campechiana Lundell, foliis coriaceis petiolo breviori (6-9 mm longo vs. 10-20 mm longo), inflorescentia masculina tantum 3-5-flora, inflorescentia feminei uniflora, floribus carnosis, staminibus filamentis aureo-pubescentibus, baccis globosis, differt. Trees, 6-20 m; branchlets glabrous or minutely strigose with scattered black trichomes, drying shiny black, the buds coarsely and densely blackstrigose. Leaves 6-11 X 3-5 cm, elliptic, thick and coriaceous, glabrous above, sparsely strigose with scattered coarse black trichomes beneath, the trichomes denser near the veins, glabrescent, the young leaves densely black-strigose beneath, the trichomes breaking off and leaving black dots on the leaf undersides, the base acute, the margins somewhat revolute, the apex broadly acute, the ultimate tip rounded; lateral nerves 5-6 pairs, inconspicuous, the midvein drying darker beneath; petiole 6-9 mm, fleshy. Inflorescences axillary along the current growth. Male flowers in 3-4(-5)-flowered subsessile to shortly pedunculate cymules, the peduncle and bracts black-strigose, the pedicels ca. 0.5 mm; calyx 1.5-2 mm, fleshy, black-strigose without, glabrous within, drying black, the tube ca. 1 mm, flat, the lobes 5, ca. 1.5 mm, semiorbicular; corolla 4-5 mm, urceolate to somewhat salverform, glabrous throughout, drying black, the tube 3-3.5 mm, the lobes 4, ca. 1.5 mm, broadly deltate, the margins thinner and overlapping in bud; stamens ca. 10-12(-20), 1.5-2 mm (not including the elongate connective), densely golden pubescent, the connective long-apiculate; pistillode ca. 1 mm, black-strigose at the apex, otherwise glabrous. Female flowers (seen in young fruit only) solitary, sessile or nearly so, the pedicel 0-0.5 mm. Fruits 1.52.5 cm diam., yellow-orange when ripe, drying reddish brown, glabrous except for a patch of stiff black trichomes around the persistent style base; NovoN 7: 256-260. 1997. This content downloaded from 157.55.39.138 on Sun, 26 Jun 2016 06:12:47 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms Volume 7, Number 3 Knapp 257 1997 Mesoamerican Diospyros