LiMNORCHIS AND PiPERIA NORTH OF MeXICO 633 



LiMNORCHIS PiPERIA 



Sepals 3-7-nerved ; petals dis- Petals and sepals i -nerved or 

 tinctly 3- nerved, without gibbosi- obscurely 3-nerved, with small 

 ties. gibbosities at their bases. 



Lateral sepals free. Lateral sepals with their bases 



adnate to the claw of the lip. 

 Lip flat or concave, without Lip with a more or less dis- 

 median ridge, not truncate at the tinct median ridge ; blade trun- 

 base, free. cate or hastate at the base ; a 



margin connecting the claw with 

 the column. 

 Anther-cells opening in front. Anther-cells opening laterally. 



The first .species of Piperia was originally described as 

 Spirantlies Utialascliensis Sprengel * and generally known as Habc- 

 naria UnalascJiensis Wats. In tlie Kew Index this species is 

 referred to Henniuium coiigcstuvi, a plant from northern India. 

 We have no specimen of the latter, but the identity is so unlikely 

 that I did not think of making a comparison when I visited Kew 

 last summer. P. UnalascJiensis \sx\o Herminhnn, however, for that 

 genus is distinguished by the total absence of a spur besides by 

 different structures of the column. Kraenzlin recognizes both Pla- 

 tantJiera Unalaschcnsis and P. foctida. It is true that no one seems 

 to know exactly what 5^;m;////r5 UnalascJiensis '^^^xQ:\^\^t\ really was, 

 but I know of no plant except the present species, which agrees with 

 Sprengel's short description. Kraenzlin placed P. Unalaschcnsis 

 among the scapose species and P. foctida among the foliose, but 

 in the description he characterizes the latter as having the leaves 

 near the base. I cannot find any character on which to base a 

 segregation of two species. The publication of Platanthera foctida 

 Geyer, is generally given as Hook. Journ. Bot. 7 : 376. 1855 ; 

 but there is no description, only the name and references to the lo- 

 cality where it was collected. The first real publication seems to 

 have been in King's Report, where Watson gives it as a synonym 

 under Habenaria foctida there described. Gymnadenia hmgispica 

 Durand f has been referred to this species, but this must be a mis- 



* Syst. 3 : 708. 1826. 

 fPl. Pratten, loi. 1855. 



