BOTANICAL MUSEUM LEAFLETS 
HARVARD UNIVERSITY 
c 
14, 1939 
A NEW STATUS FOR XH ABENAKI A 
ANDREWSII 
BY 
Donovan S. Correll 
One of the most difficult problems in the Orchid- 
aceae of the eastern United States is that concerning the 
Purple-fringed Habenarias. An examination of herbar¬ 
ium material, and literature on the subject, should readily 
convince one that this statement is not an exaggeration. 
In 1840, Asa Gray, writing of Habenaria psycodes 
(L.) Spreng. (in Am. Journ. Sci. and Arts 38: 309), 
said: “So great is the confusion of the synonymy, and 
so extensive the series of mistakes in regard to this spe¬ 
cies, that it becomes at first sight questionable whether 
the Linnean name should not be altogether dropped. 
But as the description of Linnaeus is perfectly applicable 
to the species he had in view, and to no other, we are 
not at liberty to pass by the original name; still less to 
apply it to a plant subsequently mistaken for this spe¬ 
cies.” Gray retained H. psycodes as a true species and 
reduced the large-flowered plant to H. psycodes var. 
grandifl&ra (Bigel.) A.Gray. 
In his work on the genus Habenaria in North Amer¬ 
ica, Ames (Orchidaceae 4 (1910) 187) wrote: “It is a 
hopeless task to attempt to arrive at satisfactory con¬ 
clusions regarding the correct synonymy of Habenaria 
psycodes and H.fimbriata. Early in the 1 
[57] 
