Fox: SPECIES OF CYPRIPEDIUM. 425 



The drug is little used and in 1885, the exportations were in 

 amounts ranging from fifty to one hundred pounds.* While 

 statistics are not easily obtainable, the conclusion is drawn by 

 competent authority that the yearly outputs of the drug are in 

 "the hundreds of pounds rather than in the thousands or tons." 



The leaves of the tropical species are usually thick and ap- 

 parently veinless, the plicate leaved forms being more charac- 

 teristic of the temperate regions. With the plication of the 

 boreal representatives, is associated a pubescence more or less 

 marked. In the young plant, as of Cypripedium calceolus L., 

 this downy or villous growth does not appear until the first 

 foliage leaf unfolds. The number of these foliage leaves is as 

 variable as that of the sheathing leaves, generally five or six 

 and seldom nine in number. ' 



In the eastern division of North America, two species, Cy- 

 pripedium reginae Walt. (C. spectabile Sw.) and Cypripedium 

 hirsutum Mill. (C. pubescens Willd. ) are notably leafy and 

 villous. The former, at certain stages in its growth, especially 

 when " with newly formed seed pods''^ is found to create a 

 sensation and an effect very similar to cases of poisoning with 

 Rhus vernix Linn, and other plants placed in the same list 

 with the poison ivy. This phenomenon does not appear in the 

 case of every individual handling the specimens but reports of 

 such instances are numerous enough to warrant placing Cypri- 

 pedium reginae Walt, in the list of plants poisonous to some 

 persons. 



Since the hairs of Cypripedium hirsutum Mill, are not found 

 to vary much from those of Cypripedium reginae Walt., and 

 since both are invested by a filamentous fungus, ^ the conclu- 

 sion may easily be drawn, strengthened, indeed, by a few re- 

 ports, that Cypripedium hirsutum Mill, possesses like proper- 

 ties. "The poisonous effects may be due to the piercing of the 

 skin by the pointed hair, and the consequent action of the acid 

 contents, or to the surface irritation by the contents of the 

 glandular tip, or it is remotely possible that they are due in 

 some way to the presence of the fungus.'"" Whatever may be 

 the ultimate cause, the result is not always uniform, and some 

 individuals are found to be sensitive to contact with the plants 

 while others are not at all affected. 



(6) Heber, L. A. Rept. Am. Phaini. Ass. 33: 49i. 1886. 



(7) Irmisch, Thllo. Beitrage zur Biolog. und Morpb. Orchid. 35. 1853. 



(8) Mac Dougal. D. T. Minn. Hot. Stud. 1: 35. 1894. 



(9) MacDougal, D. T. Loo. cit. 36. PI. III. 

 (10) MacDougal, D. T. Loc. cit. 36. 1894, 



