146 : . Rhodora [AUGUST 
1910), from the vicinity of Birmingham, Michigan. As will appear 
from the following quotation from a letter from Mr. Frederick J. 
Hermann, this variety is so distinct as to be worthy of recognition 
in our floras. He writes: “I am sending you a box containing three 
specimens of coral-root, and I wish you would please identify two 
of these for me. The first is a yellow one which I can't find described 
in any book on orchids. I had never seen it before yesterday, when 
I found about ten plants near Delaware, Keweenaw County, Mich., 
about twelve miles from Copper Harbor. Later in the day I found 
about six more specimens at Copper Harbor, Keweenaw County. 
Both of these colonies were in rather dense spruce woods, and growing 
in company with Menzies’ rattlesnake plantain. At -Delaware a 
few plants of Corallorrhiza multiflora were also growing with them. 
The second specimen is another one that I wish you would identify 
for me. The third is the common large coral-root (C. multiflora) 
which I thought you might like to use for comparison with the 
second.” 
Mr. Hermann’s three types are all color varieties of Corallorrhiza 
maculata Raf. (=C. multiflora Nutt.), forming a series with regard 
to pigmentation similar to that in many cultivated plants, in which 
some varieties have yellow pigmentation due to glucosides of the 
flavonol group, other varieties, red or purple, containing anthocyanins. 
The Corallorrhiza series is exceptional in one respect, namely, that 
there is a variety with predominently brown coloration. This brown 
variety has a parallel in the brown-husked variety of maize, the latter 
being one of a series of color types in which the genetical relations 
have been carefully worked out by Emerson. The brown type in 
maize has been found to contain a yellow flavonol glucoside, and the 
brown coloration is probably due to some unknown reaction of the 
yellow pigment with other plant constituents. If the maize series 
contains a type with a bright yellow coloration of the husk, it is as 
yet unknown. The parallelism of the color types in Corallorrhiza 
with those of plants which have been investigated genetically is 
pointed out, because it gives the best reason to assert confidently 
that these types are genetical entities, and not mere variations due 
to environment. 
! Emerson, R. A. The genetic relations of plant colors in maize. Cornell Univ. 
Agric. Exp. Sta. Mem. 39. pp. 156. 1921. 
