NOMENCLATURE OF THE AMERICAN 
SPECIES OF CORYMBORCHIS 
BY 
Donovan S. CorrELL 
AT THE present time two species of Corymborchis are 
recognized in the Western Hemisphere: Corymborchis 
flava (Sw.) O. Ktze.—plants with yellow flowers having 
a lanceolate lip, and Corymborchis cubensis Acufia—plants 
with greenish or greenish white flowers having a linear- 
spatulate lip. A study of these species has revealed a most 
puzzling and interesting nomenclatorial history. 
I. CORYMBORCHIS FLAVA (Sw.) O. Ktze. 
In 1788, Swartz (Nov. Gen. & Sp. Pl. Prodr., p. 119) 
briefly described Serapias flava, a Jamaican plant having 
yellow flowers. Later, in 1806 (Fl. Ind. Oce., p. 1417), 
he changed the name of this plant to Neottia flava and 
supplemented his earlier description with an excellent 
and more detailed account of the plant. In writing of the 
lip he said, ‘‘Zabellum basi canaliculato-concavum, co- 
lumnam amplectens, /amina longitudine petalorum, lan- 
ceolata, erecta, nec apice recurva.”’ 
In 1840, Lindley (Gen. & Sp. Orch. Pl., p. 484) de- 
scribed Chloidia decumbens, a Brazilian plant having 
flowers with a lanceolate lip. He stated that the sepals 
were yellow and the petals white with the outer surface 
yellow. At the same time Lindley cited Swartz’s species 
as possibly synonymous with his own. He wrote: 
‘‘T am uncertain whether this plant is the same as 
Swartz’s Neottia flava. So far as the description given 
by that author is concerned, there is no material discrep- 
ancy; except that he says the leaves of his plant are 2 or 
3 feet long. Here they are not a foot in length. But if 
the stem of N.flava is erect, and the petals of the same 
[121 ] 
