37 
holopetala, Torr., that the petals are entire, and I find many speci- 
mens of this species which show on the same plant all grades of 
petals from entire to cut-toothed and fringed. So that no de- 
pendence can be placed on the constancy of this character. 
The very confusion into which authors have fallen in regard to 
these two species is significant. Willdenow, the author of the 
name dlephariglottis (Sp. Pl. iv. 9, 1805), observes “very similar to 
ciliaris, but the narrow lip, the length of the highest petal and 
slightly ciliate. The corolla seems to be yellow.” Dr. Torrey, in 
his Compendium of 1826, briefly describes them, and the descrip- 
tion of either applies perfectly well to the other, except that the 
one is called “bright yellow” and the other “ pure white.” Hooker 
(Exot. Bot. t. 87), calls the var. holopetala “ Habenaria blephari- 
Slottis,’ and Lindley names it “ Platanthera holopetala,’ upon which 
Torrey (FI, N. Y., ii. 277), who gives altogether the best descrip- 
tion of the two species, remarks: “I certainly agree with Sir Wil- 
liam Hooker in considering P. holopetala of Lindley as only a 
variety of this (d/ephariglottis) species, which again scarcely differs 
from the following (ciliaris) except in the white flowers, Lindley 
has even a white variety of P. carts.” Chapman reduces it to 
Al. ciliaris, var. blephariglottis. 
Lindley, in his Gen. and Sp. of Orchids, seems to hice Be 
matters badly, evidently knowing the species imperfectly. After 
converting Orchis blephariglottis, Willd., into Platanthera holopetala, , 
he describes Platanthera ciliaris under two varieties, Viz., var. 4. 
with yellow flowers, which he attributes to Alabama, and var. , 
with white flowers, which he attributes to Canada. It is to this 
that Torrey refers. Lindley could distinguish his olopetala from 
ciliaris only by its entire petals, which, as I have shown, is an in- 
constant character. So far as color goes, even if color alone were 
a sufficient ground for specific distinction, which it is not, I find in 
the Herbarium on sheets of undoubted cig, Mates Siena labels from 
different collectors marked, « flowers, lemon yellow,” and “ flowers, 
lemon yellow, varying to cizaris.” 
A careful comparison of the flowers in the two forms, as shown : 
in the large collection at Columbia College, renders the following © 
arrangement the most satisfactory : oo 
a ang ciliaris se R. Br. in Ait. Hort. Kew. Ed. Pe v. 194 ay 
a 13) ee ee : 
