PREFACE 



characterization under Habenaria. This conclusion is palpably 

 incorrect, as the basis on which systematists have relied who have 

 upheld the disjunction of Habenaria is the distinctness of these 

 characters. This basis hardly leads to chaos whether adopted or 

 rejected, although it does not simplify classification, as I have 

 attempted to show. 



The greater part of the type material of North American Ha- 

 benaria species is to be found in European herbaria. Fortunately 

 the specimens are usually well preserved and serviceable for the 

 purposes of monographic work. The authors of early botanical 

 books, however, were not always precise in designating the ex- 

 act specimens which formed the basis of their conclusions, so 

 that in many cases it is not possible to discover what may be 

 the type. As a rule their collections do not contain many repre- 

 sentatives of a species, and then it is a simple matter to arrive 

 at a decision by a process of elimination. Notwithstanding the 

 extensive correspondence of Linnseus and the number of con- 

 tributors to his herbarium, it is noteworthy that the few species 

 of North American Habenarias which he possessed are with one 

 or two exceptions represented by a single example. 



For the student of the native species of the United States the 

 herbaria of the British Museum of Natural History and of the 

 Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew contain rich collections of cri- 

 tical specimens. But both of these herbaria lack extensive series 

 of the forms of a given species. 



Of the oldest collections containing American Habenarias 

 those of Gronovius and Walter, preserved in the British Mu- 

 seum, are of special interest. The latter, which is bound in book 

 form, contains only a few specimens of critical value. 



Of more modern collections Lindley's occupies a unique po- 

 sition. Here again the different species are represented by only 



