4 i Rhodora [JANUARY 
In examination of the literature and figures bearing upon this ques- 
tion it has become apparent that the little plant of northern New 
England, familiar to American botanists as Goodyera repens, is, in a 
striking superficial character, unlike the true G. repens as represented 
by authentic European figures and specimens. The plant of north- 
eastern America known as G. repens is much smaller than the other 
northern species, and its dark green leaves have darker sub-horizontal 
veins usually bordered by conspicuous white markings.. On the other 
hand, the common G. repens of Europe and Asia, as represented not 
only in descriptions and specimens, but also by colored plates, has 
slightly larger leaves, often with dark veins, but rarely, if ever, with the 
conspicuous white markings shown in the American plant. In inflores- 
cence and in flower-structure, however, the European and American 
plants are not distinguishable. The form of G. repens which grows in 
northeastern America is not entirely unknown, however, in Europe : a 
number of authors, from Mentzel to Reichenbach, have mentioned it, 
although it is apparently rare. Nor is the European form of G. repens 
altogether wanting in America. Specimens from the northern Rocky 
Mountains, collected by Bourgeau on the Palliser expedition, have the 
same green leaves without white markings, as do also later specimens 
found on Pike’s Peak by Aubrey H. Smith; and, in his Flora Boreali- | 
Americana, Hooker cites specimens from the Rocky Mountains ( Drum- 
mond) and from the Saskatchewan to Fort Franklin (Dr. Richardson) 
having leaves * rarely reticulated with white veins." Though the north- 
eastern plant appears superficially different from the typical G. repens, 
it seems wisest, in view of the identical flower-structure, and the occa- 
sional presence in America of the typical form and in Europe of the 
other, to regard this plant with white-reticulated leaves as no more than 
a variety of G. repens. 
In the following synopsis an attempt is made to state the more 
readily recognizable characters of these different forms; and to show, 
in some detail, the range, as accurately as is yet known, of each species 
in New England, and in a general way its broader range in America. 
In determining the ranges of these plants in New England, not only 
the materialin the Gray Herbarium and the Herbarium of the New 
England Botanical Club has been consulted ; but much help has been 
gained by the use of specimens kindly placed at my disposal by Judge 
J. R. Churchill, Professor' L. R. Jones, Dr. C. W. Swan, and Messrs. 
H. S. Clark, Walter Deane, Chas. E. Faxon, C. W. Jenks, E. L. Rand, and 
