374 Mr. Babington on Habenaria bifolia and chlorantha. 



rated, and the four species or varieties I have mentioned with 

 entire leaves: so that although Loureiro's Rhiz. hexagona 

 were reduced, the number is about double of that given by 

 Martius. This order is thus concentrated in India or its islands; 

 the only known exceptions consist in the two or perhaps three 

 species ofRhizophora and one Carallia that occur further west, 

 and one Ceriops and one Bruguieria that are found in New 

 Holland ; but of these, two are also natives of India. 

 Arlary, Kinross, Dec. 1837. 



XL. — On Habenaria bifolia and chlorantha. By Charles 

 C. Babington, M.A., F.L.S., F.G.S., &c. 



To the Editor of the Annals of Natural History. 

 Dear Sir, 

 At page315 of the 4the dition of his ' Brit. Flora/ recently pub- 

 lished, Sir W. Hooker having expressed his opinion that the 

 Habenaria chlorantha of my paper (Linn. Trans, xvii. 462) is 

 not the same as the plant figured by Reichenbach at t. 853, f. 

 1145, of his Iconog. Botan., I feel it incumbent upon me to 

 give my reasons for considering them as identical. The same 

 excellent botanist appearing to doubt the correctness of my 

 determination, that the Orchis bifolia of Linnaeus is the same 

 as my H. bifolia and Platanthera brachyglossa, Reich., I will 

 add a few observations upon that subject. 



Since the publication of the paper referred to I have ob- 

 tained from Prof. Reichenbach himself a specimen of his 

 Plat, chlorantha. It is No. 948 of his Flora German. Exsic- 

 cata, and has the following label appended : — " 948, Platan- 

 thera chlorantha, Cust. and Rchb. Fl. Germ. 818. ic. 1145." 



This specimen agrees exactly with those English ones con- 

 tained in my herbarium. The shape of the petals, on which 

 Sir W. Hooker lays much stress, is the same in the German 

 and English specimens. In both they are narrower, and not 

 so acute as in Reich, f. 1145 : the above ticket shows however 

 that the author of that plate considers my specimen as an ex- 

 ample of the plant there figured. The colour of the flowers 

 is known to be variable, and therefore I do not think that 

 their not being very green in our plant is sufficient cause for 



