354 VAUGHAN MacCAUGHEY 



Pollinia: Waxy, without caudicles or stigmatic glands; in two pairs; attached 

 by their summits, but spreading laterally into the two pollen-sacs. 

 Capsule: 10 to 15 mm. long, obovate-oblong and prominently ribbed. 



Hawaii can boast but a single representative of the large and 

 well-known genus Habenaria, popularly known as the Butterfly 

 Orchids. This group consists of about four hundred species of 

 terrestrial leafy orchids, widely distributed in temperate and 

 tropical regions throughout the world. The generic name, from 

 the Greek, a thong or strap, refers to the conspicuous floral lip 

 or to the long spur. The spur is a nectary, and many species 

 are also very fragrant. 



The Hawaiian species, H. holochila Hilleb. is endemic and 

 peculiar to the remarkable summit bogs that occur on a number 

 of the Hawaiian mountains. These bogs are situated at an 

 elevation of 3000 to 6000 feet, in the cloud belt, and are excess- 

 ively wet. They comprise a distinct ecologic district. Their 

 peculiarities have been described by the writer in a paper in 

 the American Botanist- and his reference list of their highly 

 precinctive flora is to appear shortly in the Hawaiian Forester. 



Habenaria holochila grows in very boggy soil. The slender 

 tuberous rhizome is subterranean, erect, and cylindric or spin- 

 dle-form. Around its summit is a crown of numerous small 

 fleshy roots. At the termination of its season of growth and 

 flowering, the tuber decays, but the plant is renewed perennially 

 by the development of a new tuber by the side of the exhausted 

 one. 



The erect stem is leafy throughout, and is terminated by a 

 spike of inconspicuous green flowers. The stem is hollow, and 

 like the tuber, is renewed seasonally. The remains of the old 

 dead stems may be found amongst the basal leaves as a mature 

 plant. 



There are five to ten leaves, the basal ones largest, the upper 

 ones modified as sheathing scales. The leaves are oval or elliptic- 

 oblong, membranaceous, 10 to 15 cm. long by 4 to 5.5 cm. broad; 

 apex acuminate; base sheathing. There are three to five pri- 

 mary veins and six to fourteen secondary veins. 



2 Vegetation of the Hawaiian Simamit Bogs. In press. 



