120 ORCHIDACE^ 



SPIRANTHES LACINIATA (Small) 



In addition to S. vernalis, Eng. & Gray, there is another 

 Spiranthes from the southern United States which belongs in the 

 same section. It was described by Dr. J. K. Small in his Flora of 

 the Southeastern United States in 1903. It grows in moist ground, 

 where water stands for the greater part of the year, the flowers 

 expanding after the water recedes in the dry season. Although 

 this species does not, so far as known, come into the northern 

 United States, it has been found as far north as Georgia, where 

 it was collected by Roland Harper in moist places. 



The type station of this species is near Eustis, Lake Co., Fla., 

 where G. V. Nash collected it in June, 1895. When fresh it is 

 strikingly distinct from S. vernalis, as the leaves at base have an 

 inflated appearance and persist through the flowering season. 



S. laciniata is an extremely variable species, and some of its 

 forms approach 8. jwcecox, Watson, so closely that they are 

 well-nigh indistinguishable from it. On the other hand, some 

 forms are more unlike the t^pe than the type is unlike S. prcecox, 

 and resemble luxuriant leafy forms of Spiranthes vernalis. After 

 an examination of several hundreds of specimens from Texas, 

 Louisiana, Georgia, and Florida, my conclusion is that S. laciniata 

 and S. prcecox, while at times they approach each other in such 

 a manner that to discriminate between them becomes extremely 

 difficult, are yet distinct species. The specimens collected near 

 Miami by A. A. Eaton, numbered 975, represent the species in 

 a high state of luxuriance, while the specimens collected near 

 Eustis by G. V. Nash, and in Sumter Co., Ga., by R. M. Harper, 

 appear to be intermediate between the Miami specimens and 8. 

 prcecox. The arrangement of the leaves, however, affords a fairly 

 safe though not an entirely satisfactory distinction ; for in 8. 

 laciniata the leaves are basal and cauline, some of them extend- 

 ing up the stem and passing gradually into the elongated bracts, 

 while in 8. prcBCOX the leaves are mostly basal and only excep- 

 tionally cauline. The pubescence on the under surface of the lips 

 in 8. laciniata is often conspicuous, rarely absent. In 8. j^raicox 



