1909] Plitt, — Notes on Monotropsis odorata 153 
A somewhat careful search has failed to disclose any previous 
record of color forms either of Potentilla pumila or of the closely allied 
P. canadensis. | Poiret, indeed, in his original description, speaks of 
3 
jaune påle”; but it seems 
oe 
the flowers of P. pumila as pale yellow, 
hardly possible that he can have had the form with cream-colored 
petals before him. ‘The absence of any record of it and its probable 
character as a "'retrograde variety” would indicate that it is unusual 
and not likely to have been collected and sent to Europe as early as 
1800. Moreover, Poiret is contrasting his plant with the European 
P. verna L. from which, he says, “cette espéce....me paroit devoir 
' and which has deep golden-yellow flowers. In 
être distinguée’ 
contrast with them, the clear yellow of P. pumila might very naturally 
be spoken of as pale. In a similar manner, the latest monographer 
of the genus Potentilla, Wolf,” uses the Latin phrase “pallide flavis" 
to describe the petals of a form to which a moment later, he refers as 
*'hellgelb." 
It seems desirable that the Cambridge plant should be recorded 
under a definite name: it may, then, be called: — 
POTENTILLA PUMILA Poir., forma ochroleuca f. nov. 
A forma typica differt petalis albo-flavescentibus. 
Roadside in dry, gravelly soil: Cambridge, Mass., May 26, 1909. 
M. L. Fernald and C. A. Weatherby. 
GRAY HERBARIUM. 
NOTES ON MONOTROPSIS ODORATA. 
CHARLES C. Putt. 
Ir was by a mere accident that I first became acquainted with 
Monotropsis odorata, for it was while collecting some leaf mold that 
I uncovered a nice lot of this interesting little plant. ‘his was more 
than fifteen years ago; since then I have seen it many times and possi- 
bly in all of its various habitats. Му first find was made in low chest- 
nut woods, but it is in the sandy pine woods where it seems to be most 
at home. Like the other plants of the Monotropoideae or Indian Pipe 
Subfamily, it is entirely destitute of green foliage. Its clustered stems, 
1 Encycl. Meth. Bot. 5; 594. ? Monographie der Gattung Potentilla, 591, 
