The American Species of Limnorchis and Piperia, north of Mexico 



By Per Axel Rydberg 



In revising the manuscript of the Orchidaceae for Dr. Brit- 

 ton's Manual of the Flora of the Northern States and at the same 

 time that of my Catalogue of the Flora of Montana and the Yel- 

 lowstone Park,* I came to the conclusion that the genus Habe- 

 naria as treated in America was an altogether too diversified 

 genus and contained species of very distant relationship. In 

 Europe, as a rule, several genera are admitted. Prof. PI Pfitzer, 

 who prepared the Orchidaceae for Engler and Prantl's Die natiir- 

 lichen Pflanzenfamilien, places the North American Hahcnariae in 

 the following genera : Cocloglossiim, Gymnadcnia, Platanthera, 

 Perularia and Habaiaria. Kraenzlin in his Orchidaccaniui Gen- 

 era et Species, admits Habenaria, Gyninadenia and Plataiithera. 

 Both these authors place Habenaria in a separate subtribe from 

 the rest. The true Habenariae are represented in North America 

 by only a few species in the Gulf States, West Indies, Mexico and 

 Central America. They are characterized by the long filiform 

 appendages of the stigmas, anthers and petals. Platanthera as 

 understood by Pfitzer is still a very complex genus and had he 

 known the American forms as well as those represented in Europe, 

 he undoubtedly would have restored Rafinesque's Blepliariglotds for 

 our fringed orchids and established a few more genera. During 

 last July I stayed a few days in London and met Mr. Rolfe, the 

 authority on orchids at Kew. He expressed the opinion that 

 Habenaria must be split up, not only so that Gvuinadenia and 

 Platanthera should be taken out, but that all three genera should 

 be subdivided. In one instance he went farther than I had dared, 

 viz., expressing the opinion that Orchis I'oiundifolia perhaps should 

 be removed from Orchis. 



When doing my work referred to above, I came to the conclu- 

 sion, that if Coeloglossnni and Pendaria should be admitted, certain 

 other groups represented wholly by American species must be 



*Mem. N. Y. Bot. Garden, Vol. 1. 



605 



