Tropical Puff

Neptunia pubescens Benth. Journ. Bot. Hook. 4: 356. 1841
Neptunia lloridana Small. Bull. Torrey Club 25: 138. Mr. 1898.
Neptunia Lindheimeri B. L. Robinson, Proc. Am. Acad. 33: 333. My. 1898.
Pubescent or glabrate, the slender stems prostrate or ascending, 2-7 dm. long. Stipules lanceolate to ovate-lanceolate, acuminate, 2-3 mm. long; petioles slender, glandless, 1-3 cm. long; pinnae 2-5 pairs; leaflets 15-35 pairs, oblong or linear-oblong, obtuse, acutish or mucronulate, 3-5 mm. long, glabrous, or ciliate, or sometimes puberulent beneath; peduncles slender, 2-5 cm. long; heads globose or short-oblong, about 6 mm. thick, exclusive of the stamens; calyx and bractlets glabrous or ciliolate; calyx about 1.5 mm. long; legume oblong, obtuse or rounded, glabrous, or sparingly puberulent when young, short-stipitate, 2-3.5 cm. long, 6-8 mm. wide.
Type locality: Lima. Peru.
Distribution: Florida to Texas; Cuba; Hispaniola; Antigua; Guadeloupe; Martinique; Dominica; Panama. Peru. Paraguay.

Neptunia mazatlana Britton & Rose, sp. nov
Stems several from a woody root, slender, glabrous, spreading, 2-3 dm. long. Stipules ovate, acute or acuminate, 3-5 mm. long; petioles slender, eglandular, about 1.5 cm. long or shorter; pinnae 1-3 pairs, short-stalked; leaflets 3-11 pairs, oblong-obovate, the lower pair about 2 mm. long, the others 3-3.5 mm. long, the apex rounded, the nearly central midvein prominent beneath, the few lateral veins indistinct, the margins long-ciliate; peduncles very slender, 2-3 cm. long, bearing 1 or 2 small lanceolate membranous bracts; heads oblong, several-flowered, about 5 mm. long; bractlets lanceolate, acuminate, 1 mm. long; calyx 1.5 mm. long; young legumes short-stipitate.
Sand hills, vicinity of Mazatlan, Sinaloa, April 4, 1910, Rose, Standley & Russell 14001.