94 



NATIVE BRITISH ORCHIDACE^ 



B 



ti7ne-t mDr^ 



iSomei- -- 

 J^riryed than this) 



between them count for nothing in America. Rydberg's name Gyrostachjs stricta is 

 not generally accepted in the U.S.A. He did not describe the plants or specify the 

 differences between them, but merely said 

 that the U.S.A. species was not the same as 

 the Alaskan, and that he therefore named it 

 G. stricta. Being unsupported by a diagnosis, 

 this name does not appear to be valid (Art. 

 37, International Rules, 1905).' 



Mr Mousley sent a few young seedlings 

 of Spiranthes Koman^offiana from Canada. 

 The first to flower was painted, but on exa- 

 mination turned out to be S. cernua, which 

 accounts for the presence of this American 

 plant on PI. 16. In the early stage at which 

 it was collected it was probably impossible 

 to distinguish between the two species. 



Habitat. Moist pastures, rushy meadows, 



WOrked-OUt peat-bogs. Wet spongy pastures ^ext-fig. 9 a. Can^eraludda drawing from Prof. Oakes 



liable to flood in winter, often with a sub- Ames (Harvard) of the lip of (A) a Newfoundland 



r J i" 11 J 1 • 11 specimen (Fernald and Wiegand 5232) picked out at 



Stratum of sand. Cold damp bogs m usually ^^„j„^_ ^^^ (g^ ^„ ^^,^^ specimen (Pr^eger, July, 1895) 



upland situations. Very rare and local, but of Spiranths Komc^offimm Chamisso. "Aspect under 

 ■■^ ... microscope as to tissues and vems identical II 1 he 



in some stations in moderate numbers, claw of b was torn in dissecUon. 

 Flowers July to August. 



Distribution. In various places all round Lough Neagh, and near some of its 

 tributary streams. It has descended the river Bama to Coleraine. Armagh, Derry. 

 Colonsay (Lady Strathcona, /.£. p. 346 (1930)). Possibly Coll, J. B. Simpson (B.E.C. 

 p. 213 (1923), recorded as S. autumnalis). Confined to Ireland, and possibly the 

 western Scottish Isles, and found nowhere else in Europe. In N. America extends from 

 the Atlantic to the Pacific, and from Unalaska southwards to California and Colorado. 



Spiranthes Romanzoffiana Chamisso, 'Linncea, iii, 32 (1828). Neottia 

 GEMMiPARA Smith, Bngl. Flora, ed. i, iv, 36 (1828). Spiranthes gemmi- 

 PARA Lindl., Sjn. Brit. Flora, ed. i, p. 257 (1829). S. cernua Hooker, Bot. Mag. 

 5277(1829). Gyrostachys stricta Rydberg (1900).' S. stricta Wilmott. 



The biological sequence of the buds and tuberous roots in S. Koman^offiana is as 

 follows. A single bud is formed at the foot of the flower-stalk in each plant, at first 



■ Dr Druce wrote (B.E.C. p. 569 (1930)): "It is quite evident that Rydberg's S. stricta will have 

 to be degraded from specific if not from varietal rank, which was all I gave it in the Lw/. The northern 

 and southern plants do not appear to me to vary more than the eastern (fen) and western (dunal) 

 form of Liparis ". Rydberg's name was Gjrostachys stricta, not Spiranthes stricta. 



