PREFACE 



a few specimens, and it is comparatively easy to pick out the 

 types or individuals of importance. Lindley's practice of draw- 

 ing the flowers on his mounting-paper constitutes a great aid in 

 the examination of his types, but unfortunately many of his in- 

 terpretations are faulty and should never be final. A glaring ex- 

 ample of this is the drawing on the type sheet of Habenaria 

 novevifida, to which I have referred under H. diffusa. In this 

 case Lindleydrew and described petals as trifid which subsequent 

 examination by Dr. Prain proved to be bifid. 



American herbaria are indispensable in any serious work on 

 Habenaria, and among these the Gray Herbarium of Harvard 

 University is of incomparable value. In this collection there are 

 numerous types, cotypes, and duplicates of type numbers. 



The collections in the Museum d'Histoire Naturelle de Paris 

 are of special worth in a study of Mexican species, particularly 

 those described by Richard in the Annals de Science Naturelle. 

 Richard prepared careful drawings of many of his new species, 

 and of these the greater part has been reproduced in this work. 

 The almost total neglect of Richard's types by subsequent au- 

 thors is inexplicable, and to American botanists the placid dis- 

 regard of his material by Europeans must prove an unending 

 source of surprise. 



In the following monograph I have attempted to assemble all 

 the known species of Habenaria which have been attributed to 

 North America. In almost every case I have included the ori- 

 ginal descriptions. The arrangement of the species tends to show 

 their affinities, although clearness has not been sacrificed in 

 favor of a purely natural sequence. 



Special attention has been given to bibliography and geogra- 

 phical distribution. These are of importance in showing the ex- 

 tent of the investigations from which conclusions have been 



[xi] 



