INTRODUCTION 



DAS PFLANZENREICH, 

 IV. 50. II. B. 7 



(ORCHIDACEAE — MONANDRAE — COELOGYNINAE 

 — DENDROCHILUM) 



THE publication of Orchidaceae - Monandrae - Coelogyninae in Eng- 

 ler's Das Pflanzenreich on November 26, 1907, necessitates exten- 

 sive alterations in my treatment of the Philippine species of the genus 

 Dendrochilum, on pages 11-12 and 76-122 of this volume. These altera- 

 tions, fortunately, are confined to a readjustment of authority for nomen- 

 clatorial combinations, and are indicated below as it is now too late, owing 

 to the nearness to completion of the press-work of this fascicle of Orchida- 

 ceae, to make the corrections in their proper place. 



As a review of the literature devoted to the genus Dendrochilum will 

 clearly show, there has been much uncertainty as to the generic worth of 

 three of the large groups which now compose it ; namely, Eudendrochilum, 

 Platyclinis, and Acoridium. These groups have been variously interpreted 

 by systematists, until at the present time there seems to be perfect agree- 

 ment as to their disposition as well-defined sections or subgenera of the 

 genus Dendrochilum. When in the Proceedings of the Biological Society 

 of Washington 1 (1906) I described eighteen new Philippine species under 

 the genus Acoridium, I was quite convinced that Acoridium was distinct 

 from Dendrochilum ; later, however, as material for a more exhaustive 

 study came to me from the Philippines, I concluded that Acoridium must 

 be reduced to a section under Dendrochilum. I indicated my conclusions 

 to this effect in a paper entitled Orchidaceae Halconenses, which appeared 

 last July in the Philippine Journal of Science, 2 and distributed the species 

 therein considered among three sections ; namely, Eudendrochilum, Aco- 

 ridium and Platyclinis. 



Early in February, 1907, 1 received from Dr. A. Engler, editor of Das 

 Pflanzenreich, a request for the loan of the types of my new species of 

 Acoridium, in order that they might be studied and included in Dr. E. 



1 Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash. 19 : 143-153 (1906). 



2 The Philippine Journal of Science II, Section C, Botany, no. 4 (July, 1907), pp. 316-318. 



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