80 Rhodora L ApRIL 



Flowers lateral in dense spike. 



4. L. hyperborea (L.) Rydb. 

 Flowers white or nearly so. 



Petals broadly lanceolate ; flowers inodorous or nearly so. 



5. L. dilatata (Pursh) Rydb. 

 Petals narrowly linear-lanceolate ; flowers very fragrant. 



6. L. fragrant Rydb. 



Without discussing the new genus or the general treatment which 

 is clear and illustrated throughout with drawings of the flowers, I 

 should not be greatly surprised if our New England specimens 

 would show forms fitting more or less well into the above classification. 

 My own observations, of which I spoke, are these. In a cold swamp 

 in Pownal, Vt., grows a plant, which could only be assigned to Habe- 

 naria hyperborea, of enormous size, frequently reaching a height of 

 two feet and upwards, with long, densely flowered spikes. In woods 

 below a spring, on the lower slopes of Mt. Greylock in Williamstown, 

 Mass., by wooded roadsides in Pownal and at other points in the 

 vicinity is to be found a very distinct form which must also be H. hyper- 

 borea, the latter slender, rarely a foot in height, with fewer leaves, 

 shorter spikes, and few flowers, so much smaller in every way as to 

 attract one's attention at once. On closer examination a decided 

 difference was evident in the spur, that of the larger specimens being 

 slender, filiform, acute at apex, but slightly curved, and a little longer 

 than the lip, resembling that of H. dilatata, while that of the small form 

 was shorter, more curved, seemingly thicker and more blunt. Another 

 point of difference not mentioned in Dr. Rydberg's article, making the 

 two almost impossible of identity, is the date of flowering. The large 

 type as noted for several consecutive years blooms regularly in early 

 June and by first of July has ordinarily completely passed, the 

 smaller not beginning before »late July, few flowers being open the 

 past summer on July 21, while in 1898 they were in fresh condition, 

 some yet unopened, on August 6. There is not such difference in 

 condition of habitat as to explain this fact if the plants were the same. 



The large form from Pownal corresponds perfectly with the descrip- 

 tion and illustration of Limnorehis media. The name refers to the fact 

 that the form is intermediate between hyperborea and dilatata types, 

 not at all to size, as Rydberg calls it the largest of the hyperborea 

 group. The small type may agree with the original Limnorehis or 

 Habenaria hyperborea. What I have taken as Habenaria dilatata, 

 occurring in a peat-bog in Pownal, is plainly in its narrow petals and 

 sepals and very sweet fragrance his L.fragrans. Specimens are cited 



