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A revision of the genus Mitella oic. 383 



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M. cordifolia 



t. 373. 2. — Rhizome slender, creeping, spreading freely by runners; 

 flowering sfems very slender, erect, 5 — 18 cm. high, glandular-pubescent 

 throughout, naked or with 1 — 3 short-petioled, caulinc leaves; basal leaves 

 cordate to reniform, crenately lobed and shallow-toothed, pubescent with 

 white strigose hairs above, very sparsely pubescent beneath, 1 — 4 cm long, 

 \ — 4.5 cm. wide, cauline leaves triangular-cordate, about 3-Iobed; petioles 

 very slender, more or less retrorsely hairy, \ — 10 cm. long; raceme 3 — 10- 

 flowered, 3 — 11 cm. long; bracts lanceolate, mostly obsolete in the last 

 flowers pedicels 2 — 5 mm. long, glandular pubescent, bracteoles minute; 

 flowers 8 — 12 mm. broad in anthesis, greenish yellow; axis strongly flattened; 

 sepals triangular, spreading, 1.3 — 1.6 mm long; petals yellowisb green 

 3 — 3.5 mm. long, pectinate-pinnatifid, divisions very slender; stamens erect, 

 filaments slender, longer than the cordate anthers ; disk prominently lobed ; 

 ovary free from the axis to the base, glandular-puberulent, styles tapering, 

 stigmas pointed; capsule ovoid, flattened, dehiscing into a shallow cup- 

 shaped fruit. 



In deep moist woods and boggy places, mostly in conifereous forests. 

 Distributed from Newfoundland through Labrador and to the Arctic Sea 

 westward to the Mackenzie River; it extends south into Connecticut, Penn- 

 sylvania, southern Michigan and to latitude 45" N. in eastern Minnesota. 

 In the Rocky xMountains it reaches the southern limit in northern Montana. 

 In the old world it is distributed from northeastern Asia as far west as 

 the Yenisie River and probably as far south as the 59th parallel. 

 The most important variations of the species are: 



Forma prostrata. — Mitella prostrata Michx. Fl. Bor. Am. 1 : 270. 

 1803. — A form in which the runner ends in an upright flowering shoot 

 bearing several small angularly-lobed leaves. 



Collected near Lake Champlain by Michaux, and near Gaylordsvilie, 

 Massachusetts, by Mr. C. K. Averill. 



Forma intermedia. — M. intermedia Bruhin. N. Am. Fl. 22: 2. 

 92. 1905. — M. diphylla L. forma intermedia (Rydb.) Rosend. Englers 

 Bot. Jahrb. 37: 2. 82. 1905. — An interesting form with all the essential 

 characters of M. niida except that the flowers are reported by the collector 

 as white and the petals are intermediate in form between those of M. nnda 

 and M. diphylla. It has the same kind of calyx, pistil and stamens as 

 M. mida^ and the disk is similarly lobed. The cauline leaves are inclined 

 lo be slightly broader and larger than the similar ones of M. nuda. 



Only one collection of this form is known and this was made by the 



Re 



Wisconsin, June 7th, 1876. Of 



this collection one sheet is in the Gray Herbarium and the other in the 

 U- S. National Jlerbarium. According to the collector the plants were 

 found growing togother with M. nuda. H has the appearance of being 



