Central and South America and have found a graduated 
series in the length of the spur from 4 to 18 cm. 
Ponruleva BrirronaE Ames = Ponthieva race- 
mosa ( Walt.) Mohr. Ames (in Torreya 10 (1910) 90), 
in describing P. Brittonae, wrote: ‘‘Ponthieva Brittonae 
is very closely allied to P.racemosa from which it differs 
chiefly in its smaller flowers, slenderer raceme, and in its 
differently formed petals.’’ I have examined numerous 
sheets of P. racemosa as well as a sheet compared by Ames 
with the type of this species and also all available material 
of so-called P. Brittonae (including the type) and have 
been unable to find sufficient differences to separate them. 
A complete series of differences in size was found in the 
plants examined. The petals were also found to be vari- 
able. 
<Spiranthes laciniata (Small) Ames. I have ex- 
amined the type of Gyrostachys laciniata Small and a 
number of other sheets of Spiranthes laciniata in the New 
York Botanical Garden Herbarium which were referred 
to S.laciniata by Small, and, after having compared this 
material with authentic specimens of S. praecow and S. ver- 
nalis, | have concluded that 8. /aciniata should be consid- 
ered as a hybrid of these two concepts. The hybrid plants 
are rather coarse, having intermediate characters of JS. 
praecow and S.vernalis. Some of the forms often approach 
very closely one or the other of the parent species. 
I have examined the North Carolina specimen cited 
as Malavis Bayard Fernald (in Rhodora 88 (1936) 403) 
and consider it to be M.unifolia Michx. 
I wish to express my gratitude to Dr. H. L. Blom- 
quist, Professor Oakes Ames and Mr. Charles Schwein- 
furth for their encouragement and constructive criticism 
during this research. I also wish to express my sincere 
[ 84 ] 
