Elsewhere, Fernald (l.c. p. 95), speaking of var. planipet- 
alum , said: . . the larger specimens are, in their broad 
flat petals, so like some plates of the European C. Calceo¬ 
lus L. that, without examination of the staminodium, 
one would as quickly place them with the European as 
with the American species. In the form of its stamino¬ 
dium the plant of the Newfoundland limestones is some¬ 
what different from either, ... it may well be that C. 
Calceolus , C. parviflorum and the plant of unglaciated 
areas [var. planipetalum] of western Newfoundland are 
geographic phases of one circumpolar type.” 
Professor Femald’s theory as to the preferable treat¬ 
ment which should be given to North American yellow 
Cypripediums seems to me to be the most reasonable of 
the proposals which I find in literature. Therefore, after 
a thorough examination of many sheets of herbarium 
material and an evaluation of the literature on the sub¬ 
ject, I am led to the conclusion that Cypripedium Cal - 
ceolus Li. is a polymorphic boreal species to which our 
North American yellow Cypripediums should be re¬ 
ferred. I cannot, as yet, go so far as Fernald suggests 
and combine both the Eurasian and American plants into 
one true species. At best, our plants should be given 
only a varietal position in which polymorphism should 
be recognized as a constant tendency. To this end, 
propose the name Cypripedium Calceolus var. pubescens 
for our North American yellow Cypripediums. I further 
conclude that future attempts to segregate our yellow 
Cypripediums into other than the comprehensive var. 
pubescens category should be left to the geneticists. H 
is apparently not a problem for taxonomists 1 
Cypripedium Calceolus var. pubescens^ Willd.) 
Correll comb. nov. 
[14] 
