28 Rhodora [JANUARY 
MONESES UNIFLORA VAR. RETICULATA. 
S. F. BLAKE. 
MoNESES UNIFLORA (L.) Gray var. reticulata (Nutt.), n. comb.— 
In the recent revision of North American Pyrolaceae by Rydberg in 
the North American Flora (xxix. pt. 1, 29-30 (31 Aug. 1914)) Nuttall’s 
Moneses reticulata (Trans. Am. Phil. Soc. ser. 2. viii. 271 (1843)) is 
retained as a species, a rank which in the writer’s opinion is not justi- 
fied by the slender distinctions separating it from M. uniflora. It was 
originally described as: “ Moneses* reticulata; leaves roundish-ovate, 
dentate, reticulately and prominently veined; calyx ciliate; anthers 
as long as the filaments. Pyrola uniflora. Hooker, Flor. Bor. Am. 
(in part.) 2. p.45. Has. Shady fir woods of the Oregon, not far from 
the sea. Nearly allied to M. grandiflora DECAND; but the leaves are 
strongly toothed, with elevated reticulations.” The differential 
characters which may be sifted from the descriptions in the North 
American Flora are: of M. uniflora: “leaf-blades orbicular or rounded- 
oval, usually rounded at the apex, acute at the base, 1-2 cm. long, 
crenate, not strongly veined;....sepals ovate...; anthers 2-2.5 mm. 
long, about half as long as the filaments;... capsule 7-8 mm. in 
diameter.” Of M. reticulata: “leaf-blades rounded-ovate, usually 
acute, 1-2.5 em. long, rather coarsely dentate and strongly veiny...; 
sepals oval...; anthers nearly 3 mm. long, slightly shorter than the 
filaments;... capsule about 1 em. in diameter.” 
Neither the alleged difference in sepals nor that in anthers and fila- 
ments is supported by the material examined (that in the British 
Museum, including the types of M. reticulata). M. reticulata has oval 
sepals, to be sure, but so have the great majority of specimens of M. 
uniflora from Europe and America, for example one from Massachu- 
setts collected by Nuttall himself. 'The general type of sepal in 
Moneses is oval, varying slightly in breadth and sometimes with a 
slight tendency to ovate, but certainly never to be split into *oval" 
and “ovate” in accordance with any geographic lines. The anthers, 
which were said by Nuttall to be as long as the filaments, are described 
by Rydberg as “slightly shorter than the filaments." In Nuttall’s 
types of M. reticulata they are in reality about half the length of the 
filaments, measuring 2.5 mm. in length, and are in no way different 
