124 BOTANICAL GAZETTE [FEBRUARY 
small. There are two integuments. The seed contains a few- 
celled embryo imbedded in a mass of endosperm. 
The entire plant is glabrous and white, save in the 6 divisions 
of the perianth, where free, and in the disk closing the perianth 
mouth. Here there is a delicate blue-green color, deeper in the 
raised ring about the aperture of the disk. Most of the plants have 
only this colored upper portion above the level of the soil, or of the 
surrounding moss, etc. The diameter of 5-6 mm. and a height 
above the soil of 4-6 mm. give an idea of the size of the flower. 
When the soil is carefully removed, the underground parts are found 
to be white and semi-transparent; they lie more or less parallel to 
the surface of the soil, at a depth of a few millimeters. There is 
no connection with other plants, although the roots of Thismia 
often lie in close juxtaposition with other roots. When the plant 
is so exposed (figs. 3 and 4), the flower plainly shows the typical 
THISMIAE structure; a tubular, 6-parted perianth, with the three 
inner members united at the apex. The leaves, as in other depend- 
ent Burmanniaceae, are reduced to white scalelike bracts, so closely 
appressed to the floral axis that they are readily overlooked. 
The material was first discovered in August 1912, in a small 
space along the margin of a grass field. The habitat may be 
described as a low prairie, characterized by such plants as Solidago 
serotina, S. tenuifolia, Rudbeckia hirta, Eupatorium perfoliatum, 
Asclepias incarnata, Iris versicolor, Acorus calamus, and A grostis 
alba vulgata; and on the soil itself Selaginella apus, Aneura pinguts, 
and Hypnum. Usually the Thismia grows in spots where the soil 
is not closely covered by Aneura and Selaginella, but it may be 
found occasionally among the moss (fig. 3). The little plant is 
evidently protected both against strong light and great transpira- 
tion; but its habitat is in striking contrast to that of most of the 
other species of Thismia, which are found in rich-loamed primeval 
forests, in regions of great rainfall. , 
The plants were watched for stages in development during 
August and the first half of September, to the time when some fruits 
were obtained. In the season of 1913, visits to the field were made 
weekly, with the result that flower buds were found on July 1, about 
a month earlier than the first observation of the previous season. 
