NEW OR NOTEWORTHY ORCHIDS 
character—a very short footless column which is broadened 
toward the apex. But in our opinion it is unwise to erect a 
genus on a single character unless that character is proved 
by research to be of deep significance. 
On close examination the flower of the so-called Platys- 
tele bulbinella shows a minute foot to the column. A similar 
condition is well exemplified by a number of Pleurothallis 
species of the alliance of P. cardiothallis Reichb. f. It seems 
inadvisable, therefore, to recognize Plahjstele as separable 
from Pleurothallis. 
It has long been evident that the separation of the 
Costa Rican Platystele bulbinella from the Guatemalan 
Plaiystele compacta rested only on size. However, a recent 
large accession of that species from Costa Rica shows, in 
the same collection, plants of widely varying vegetative 
proportions. The larger ones are the typical Platystele 
bulbinella form and the smaller specimens are even more 
diminutive than typical P. compacta. 
The flowers of the single collection of the Guatemalan 
Pleurothallis compacta are rather smaller than those of the 
Costa Rican representatives of the species. But the similar¬ 
ity in floral proportions and in structural details makes 
specific separation inadvisable. 
Pleurothallis dentipetala Rolfe ex Ames Sched. Orch. 
3 (January 1923) 7. P. Cooperi Schltr. in Fedde Report. 
Beihefte 19 (November 1923) 286. 
Comparisons between the type specimens of P. denti¬ 
petala and P. Cooperi show that P. Cooperi must be reduced 
to synonymy. It was apparently described from a plant 
which was slightly smaller than P. dentipetala in its vegeta¬ 
tive parts, but the flowers are practically identical. 
Several inaccuracies are manifest when the description 
of P. Cooperi is compared with the type specimen and with 
an analytical drawing made from the type plant. The stems 
are cited in the description of P. Cooperi (1. c.) as 1.3-1.8 
cm. long, whereas the drawing shows one stem that is about 
3.5 cm. long. The description represents the leaf as slender- 
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