101 



A NEW ALETRIS FROM FLORIDA 

 By George V. Nash 



This, the fourth species of this genus growing within the con- 

 fines of the United States, was found in the pine lands in the 

 vicinity of Jacksonville, Fla., by Dr. Small and the writer in the 

 fall of 1 901, and at present is known only from that section. 

 Its habitat is similar to that of the other species, and its manner 

 of growth the same. The clusters of elliptic light green leaves 

 grow singly or in tufts, and it was in this condition that it was 

 collected and brought to the New York Botanical Garden, where 

 it has since been growing among the temperate collections in the 

 conservatories. At the time of collection we were under the 

 impression that we had secured sterile plants of one of the three 

 species already known, and it was not until it flowered in June 

 of this year that this impression was dispelled. I have seen two 

 of the other three species growing, and as soon as this one came 

 into flower I was sure it was new. Its perianth more nearly 

 approaches that of A. aurea Walt., but in that species the flower 

 is yellow and the segments of the perianth longitudinally crested. 

 This new species has the mouth of the perianth more contracted 

 than in any of the others, giving it a distinctly obovate shape, 

 the character suggesting its specific name. 



Of the three species, other than this, the more common is A. 

 farinosa L., which has a white cylindric perianth. This has an 

 extended range, growing from Maine to Ontario and Minnesota, 

 south to Tennessee and Florida and west to Louisiana. A. aurea, 

 already referred to, is more restricted as to its northern extension, 

 but ranges along the gulf coast as far as Texas ; it is also re- 

 ported from southern New Jersey. The second yellow-flowered 

 species, A. lutea Small, is much more confined, extending no 

 further north than Florida, and only west as far as Mississippi. 

 It was collected by the writer in 1894 in central peninsular 

 Florida, in the neighborhood of Eustis, Lake Co., where it is 

 quite common, and was distributed by him as A, aitrca, from 

 which it differs in having a cylindric perianth instead of a cam- 

 panulate or oblong-globose one. 



