AMjui0yURi,i872RMi  Commercial 1  Root  of  Cypripedium.  297 
ON  THE  BOTANICAL  ORIGIN  OF  THE  COMMERCIAL  ROOT  OP 
CYPRIPEDIUM. 
By  John  M.  Maisch. 
In  the  May  number  of  this  journal  (page  194)  I  stated  that  two 
different  rhizomes  are  met  with  in  commerce  under  the  common  name 
of  ladies'  slipper,  but  that  I  was  unable  to  make  out  their  origin  for  want 
of  specimens  of  the  different  species  of  Cypripedium.  Since  the  pub- 
lication of  my  paper  I  have  been  enabled  to  verify  my  former  suppo- 
sition that  C.  pubescens  and  parviflorum  contribute  their  roots  to  the 
commercial  article.  My  thanks  are  due  to  Mr.  James  T.  King,  who 
sent  me  living  specimens  of  the  former  species  from  Middletown,  N. 
Y.,  where  it  grows,  though  not  abundantly  ;  also  to  Messrs.  Ferdinand 
Reppert,  of  Ann  Arbor,  Michigan,  and  Henry  Maclagan,  of  Lindsay, 
Ontario,  from  whom  I  received  0.  parviflorum.  Mr.  Reppert  col- 
lected his  specimens  in  a  tamarack  swamp,  about  three  miles  south  of 
Ann  Arbor;  where  also  0.  spectabile  is  occasionally  found,  but  not  0. 
pubescens.  Other  species  than  0.  parviflorum  and  spectabile  appear 
to  be  likewise  of  rarer  occurrence  near  Lindsay. 
The  most  characteristic  difference  in  the  growth  of  the  two  rhi- 
zomes is  that  the  one  belonging  to  0.  pubescens  is  almost  horizontal, 
and  even  in  its  greatest  length,  observed  by  me,  measuring  nearly  4 
inches,  but  slightly  bent,  with  one  shallow  downward  curve ;  its  thick- 
ness is  usually  about  \  to  T\  inch,  with  deeply  concave  scars  of  the 
over-ground  stems,  having  fully  the  diameter  of  the  rhizome.  Some 
rhizomes  have  short  branches,  swelled  considerably  at  the  places  where 
the  flowering-stems  had  been  developed,  leaving  scars  frequently  fully 
half  an  inch  in  diameter.  The  more  recent  scars  have  a  rather  long 
fibrous  tuft  of  the  dead  ligneous  tissue,  which  gradually  disappears  in 
the  older  ones.  The  scars  are  rather  crowded,  being  distant  from 
each  other  less  than  the  length  of  their  own  diameter.  The  numerous 
rootlets  reach  a  length  of  nine  inches,  with  about  y1^  inch  in  diameter, 
are  entirely  free  from  branches,  and,  though  attached  to  all  sides  of 
the  rhizome — owing  to  the  position  of  the  latter  in  the  ground, — are 
rather  abruptly  bent  downwards,  leaving  the  upper  side  of  the  rhi- 
zome almost  bare.  They  are  considerably  undulated,  and  have  a  yel- 
lowish-brown color  externally,  which  becomes  much  darker  on  drying, 
when  the  rootlets  shrivel  much,  showing  longitudinal  wrinkles.  The 
cortical  portion  of  the  rootlets  is  colored  blue  by  iodine,  the  ligneous 
cord,  about  J  the  diameter,  becoming  yellowish,  while  the  cortical  por- 
