ORCHIDACEM 117 



type material shows the bracts at least slightly hyaline along their 

 basal margins. In addition to the type specimen and the material 

 in my own herbarium I have examined several sheets of Curtiss's 

 no. 4856, on which Dr. Small based G. xyridifolia, and cannot 

 discover a single character by which to distinguish them from the 

 Texan plants on which G. Heverchoni was based. 



Plants referable to all of the species mentioned above have been 

 treated by most authors as identical with Limodorum prcecox, 

 Walter, though differing from it in the outhne of the lip and in 

 several other traits of undoubted taxonomic value. In spite of the 

 fact that they exhibit a wide range of variation and pass from the 

 stout New England to the slender Florida form, there seem to be 

 no valid differences by which to separate them. 



SYNONOMY 



The following (based on a critical study of material in herbaria) 

 will show what I consider to be the correct synonomy of S. vernalis. 



Spiranthes vernalis, Engelmann & Gray in Boston Jour. Nat. 

 Hist. 5 : 236 (1845), not G, vernalis, Small, Fl. Se. U. S. 319 ; 

 8. graminea, var. Walteri, Gray, Manual, ed. 5, 505 (1867), as to 

 charac. and pi. descr. ; S. prcecox, Watson, Gray, Manual, ed. 6, 

 503 (1890), as to charac. and pi. descr. ; S. graminea, var. prce- 

 cox, B. S. P. Cat. Anth. Pteridoph. N. Y. 52 (1888) ; Gyrosta- 

 chys Eeverchoni, Small, Bull. Torr. Bot. Club 25: 610 (1898) ; 

 G. linearis, Rydb. in Britton's Manual 300 (1901) ; G. xyridi- 

 folia, Small, Fl. Se. U. S. 318 (1903) ; Spiranthes neglecta, 

 Ames, Rhodora 6 : 30, pi. 51 (1904). 



Sinranthes vernalis is widely distributed, although, if we may 

 depend on its scarcity in herbaria, it is comparatively rare. Dr. 

 Gray ascribed to it a range reaching from southern New Eng- 

 land to Virginia and southward ; Dr. Small extended this range 

 definitely to Jacksonville, Fla., while my studies show that it 

 extends from Massachusetts southward to Dade and Lee Cos., 

 Fla., and westward through the Gulf States to New Mexico and 

 northward through the Mississippi Valley to Illinois. 



