3() Rhodora [Fkhruary 



Spiranthes ne^^/ata resembles S. graci/is, but only in a general way, 

 as the elongated leaves, hyaline-margined floral bracts, pubescent 

 rhachis {S. grad//s is usually glabrous or only sparsely pubescent), 

 ovate lip, and yellowish flowers render it clearly distinguishable from 

 that species. As it grows together with S. certiuo^ var. ochroleuca 

 and S. gracilis, one might well regard it a hybrid derived from them, 

 if several, characters, for which it would be difficult to account on 

 such a supposition, did not exist. The more robust plants of S. 

 neglecta recall S. cemua, var. ochroleuca, but differ from it, among 

 other things, in the shorter floral bracts, longer, more slender, linear 

 spike, and in the narrower fugacious leaves. When dry S. cernua, 

 var. ochroleuca is of a yellow-brown color, while S. neglecta especially 

 in the leaves is deep brown, sometimes blackish in aspect. 



Spiranthes neglecta, sp. nov. Plant 15-56 cm. high (average 

 height 12^ cm.). Roots elongated, fleshy, fusiform; leaves linear- 

 lanceolate, 7-15 cm. long, 8-9 mm. wide, tapering to both ends, 

 mostly basal, the lower ones usually passing before anthesis, the 

 upper ones withering early; cauline bracts acuminate, acute; scape 

 smooth below, summit and rhachis pubescent, pubescence often 

 dense, frequently extending below the uppermost cauline bract; 

 floral bracts lanceolate-acuminate, longer than the ovaries, conspicu- 

 ously hyaline-nuirgined, margins often crenulate or wavy, base some- 

 times auriculate; flowers (average length of perianth 7 mm,) mosdy 

 yellowish-white, pubescent, in a regular or irregular, one-ranked 

 spiral; spike i-J-5 cm. thick, 8-15 cm. long, slender; lateral sepals 

 3-nerved, lanceolate, 6-10 mm. long, margin involute; upper sepal 

 adhering lightly to the oblong, obtuse, 3-nerved petals; lip narrowly 

 ovate to broadly ovate when flattened out, rarely lanceolate, strongly 

 channeled longitudinally along the middle, apical third with an erose 

 margin, central portion suffused with yellow or greenish-yellow, veining 

 obscure, base gradually rounded into a short claw ; callosities some- 

 what curved, copiously hairy on the inner side, smooth above, 

 gynostemium much the same as in S. cernua, Richard. — In dry, 

 gravelly fields, and in sandy places by the seashore. New Castle 

 Co., Delaware, July 27, 1863 ; Ocean City, Maryland, July 25, 1878 

 {A. Commons) ; Closter, Bergen Co., New Jersey, July and August, 

 {C. F. Austin) \ Vicinity of Washington, D. C, August. 1897, 

 \E. E. Steele) \ Millen, Georgia, June 5, 1901 (Roland M. Harper) a 

 single specimen in CTray Herbarium ; Oxford, Connecticut. August, 

 1887, {E. B. Harger) a single specimen in New England Botanical 

 Club Herbarium; Crescent, C'onnecticut, August, 1903, {K. G. 

 Jxavitt <3^ H. D. Sleeper): Easton, Massachusetts, Sept., 1903, 

 {A. A. Eaton) — type. 



Fig. I shows the lip of 5. neglecta (from Easton, Mass.) flattened 



