‘Wmncpetsapidobsrans cb np {> , 
BOTANICAL MUSEUM LEAFLETS 
HARVARD UNIVERSITY 
CamBripGek, Massacuusetrs, May 12, 1938 VoL. 6, No. 1 
NOTES ON AMERICAN ORCHIDS 
BY 
CHARLES SCHWEINFURTH 
THE FOLLOWING NOTES on American orchids consist 
chiefly of nomenclatorial reductions occasioned by a criti- 
cal study of collections recently received from Costa Rica. 
The sequence of genera follows that of Engler and 
Prantl in ‘‘Die natiirlichen Pflanzenfamilien’’. 
Ponthieva Turckheimii Schlechter in Fedde Re- 
pert. 8 (1906) 47, as Ponthiea Tiirkheimit. 
Ponthieva graciliscapa Schlechter in Fedde Repert. 
Beihefte 19 (1923) 166. 
It appears that the Costa Rican Ponthieva gracili- 
scapa is conspecific with the Guatemalan P. Tiirckheimiu 
as shown by a careful comparison between the types of 
the two concepts. The type of the latter species is de- 
scribed as rather taller than P.graciliscapa, but another 
Guatemalan collection of P. Tiirckheimu has quite the 
measurements of P. graciliscapa. It is noteworthy that 
the altitude where each type was collected is nearly the 
same, and especially that the flowers of the two concepts 
are practically identical. 
One Costa Rican collection of this species (an im- 
mature plant) is only about 21 em. tall with the smallest 
leaf-blade measuring about 3 cm. long and 1.38 cm. wide. 
[1] 
