1Rbo6ora 



JOURNAL OF 



THE NEW ENGLAND BOTANICAL CLUB 



Vol. 8. April, 1906. No. 88. 



THE GENUS STREPTOPUS IN EASTEllN AMERICA. 

 M. L. Fernald. 



The two "Twisted Stalks," Streptopus amplexifolius (L.) DC. 

 and S. roseus Michx., are common in woodlands of eastern Canada 

 and many portions of the northern United States; and though both 

 plants have the solitary erect stem springing from a short thick caudex 

 and usually forking above, they are in many technical characters 

 clearly distinct. The stems of S. amplexifolius are whitish and gla- 

 brous above, in S. roseus greenish and usually ciliate-hispid above. 

 The strongly glaucous amplexicaul leaves of jS. amplexifolius are 

 glabrous throughout, those of S. roseus green, scarcely amplexicaul, 

 and conspicuously ciliate on the margins. The perianth of S. amplexi- 

 folius is campanulate at base, but the segments spread widely from 

 near the middle and quickly become recurved; that of S. roseiis cam- 

 panulate, the segments slightly if at all divergent, only the old shrivel- 

 ling tips becoming recurved. The anthers of S. amplexifolius are 

 lance-subulate, entire, and many times longer than the filaments; of 

 S. roseus narrow-ovate, bicuspidate, and about the length of the fila- 

 ments. The stigma of S. amplexifolius is subentire or merely shallow- 

 lobed, of S. roseus deeply 3-cleft. 



Besides these two well-known plants, another species, Streptopus 

 brevipes Baker (S. curvipes Vail) occurs in the mountains from Alaska 

 to Oregon. It resembles a small simple-stemmed 5. roseus but has 

 shorter pedicels and a very slender elongate rootstock. So far as 

 known this characteristic plant does not occur east of the Rocky 

 Mountains. 



In northern ^lichigan, however, there is a plant which in its slender 

 rootstock is apparently nearest related to the northwestern S. brevipes, 



