ORCHIDACEiE 



of Merida. In his geographical note he refers the species to 

 Cuba. 



In Lindley's herbarium at Kew there are three specimens 

 mounted on the sheet of Cranichis monophylla, one, the type, 

 from Venezuela, the others from Cuba, where they were collected 

 by Charles Wright in 1856-57. The Cuban specimens are com- 

 parable to Cranichis diphylla Sw. from the Blue Mountains of 

 Jamaica. These Cuban plants are apparently conspecific with 

 C tenuijiora Griseb. Wright's specimens belong to the series 

 collected in eastern Cuba, and in pencil the number 621 has 

 been inscribed on the label that accompanies them. There is 

 absolutely no doubt as to the type, because Lindley glued the, 

 labels to the sheet in such a manner that the stem of the Vene- 

 zuelan plant is covered by Linden's label. 



Cogniaux in Urban's Symbolae Antillanae in the synonymy 

 given under Spiranthes monophylla (Lindl.) Cogn. cites the ori- 

 ginal description of Lindley's Cranichis monophylla and in his ge- 

 ographical notes gives Wright's 621 and 1480 as the specimens 

 that represent the Cuban species. Now, it is perfectly clear from 

 the specimens in the Lindley Herbarium and in the Gray Her- 

 barium, that Wright's 621 collected in eastern Cuba in 1856-57 

 is a species of Cranichis. Wright's 1480, on the other hand, on the 

 evidence of two specimens preserved in the Gray Herbarium 

 is a species of Spiranthes, but as the plants bearing this number 

 were collected in 1859 they may be disregarded for the present. 

 (See Spiranthes under S. Wrightii.) 



The type of Cranichis monophylla Lindl., as has been stated 

 already, was a Venezuelan plant. Why it should have been re- 

 duced to synonymy because specimens from Cuba were later 

 referred to it by Lindley is difficult to understand. It is true 



that Grisebach in his Catalogus Plantarum Cubensium, pub- 



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