OAKES AMES, F. TRACY HUBBARD DURING our studies of the North American species of Epidendrum, we have examined the material preserved in many of the large herbaria and have found several species and varieties which we find are undescribed. There are a few changes in rank or generic conception rendering new combinations necessary. Furthermore,– due to the revision in the rules of nomenclature accepted at the Congress held in 1930, at Cambridge, England, - the specific names of a number of species should be changed because of earlier use. The purpose of this paper is to publish descriptions of the specimens we believe to be new and to make the necessary nomenclatorial changes. Epidendrum adenocarpon La Llave & Lex. var. Rosei Ames, Hubbard & Schweinfurth var. nov. A typo labelli lobis lateralibus ovato-triangularibus abbreviatis differt. Lateral lobes of the lip abbreviated, obliquely triangular-ovate, rounded or subacute at the apex, anterior margin of the free portion about 1.6 mm. long, when expanded little exceeding the width of the mid-lobe. The variety differs from the typical form chiefly in the shorter and differently shaped lateral lobes of the lip which little exceed the width of the mid-lobe. Furthermore, the petals of the variety taper more gradually from their tip to their base and the mid-lobe of the lip is somewhat more elongate than in the typical form. MEXICO, State of Sonora, greenhouse grown specimen from plants collected in 1910 above Alamos. J. N. Rose 10.1102=13062 (TYPE in Herb. Ames No. 38088. DUPLICATE TYPE in U.S. Nat. Herb.); Alamos. July 1910. J. N. Rose 10.1102 = 1614: State of Tepic, Acaponeta. July 1897. J. N. Rose 1533. The collection, Rose 1533, has lateral lobes of the lip which are intermediate between the species and the variety. Epidendrum arbuscula Lindl. var. radioferens Ames, Hubbard & Schweinfurth var. nov. A typo labello obscure lobato,laminae venis carinatoincrassatis differt. Lip indistinctly 4-lobed, nearly orbicular in general outline, with the margin crenate-plicate and the radiating veins of the lamina strongly carinate-thickened; lateral lobes semiorbicular; mid-lobe orbicular-reniform, divided into two rounded lobules, separated from the lateral lobes by an indistinct sinus. This variety differs from the typical form in having the lip less distinctly lobed and the radiating veins of the lamina carinate-thickened. The Heyde and Lux specimen cited approaches the typical form in having a sharp sinus and less crenate-plicate margins. MEXICO, State of Chiapas, "Terre Froide Fleurs rouges foncé Fleurit en Mars Croit sur les rochers et les chênes Plante de 2 à 3 pieds de hauteur" 1864-70. Ghiesbreght 907 (TYPE in Herb. Gray.) GUATEMALA, Heyde & Lux (Donn. -Sm.) 3509 (U.S. Nat. Herb. No. 826142.) Epidendrum atropurpureum Willd. var. laciniatum Ames, Hubbard & Schweinfurth var. nov. A typo labelli lobi medii marginibus irregulariter laciniatis et basi longe cuneata differt. Lateral lobes of the lip small, variable in shape, not arching over the column as in the typical form, outer margins sparsely sinuate-dentate, anterior margin of free portion 4.9-6 mm. long; mid-lobe obovate in outline from a long-cuneate base, about 3 cm. long, 2. 45 cm. wide just above the middle, apex truncate-retuse, margins above the cuneate portion irregularly dentate-laciniate. The variety is readily separable from the typical form in the irregularly dentate-laciniate margins and the long-cuneate base of the mid-lobe of lip. PANAMA, foothills east of city. "Sepals and petals are the same as Epid. atropurpureum, lip is a pink with dentate or notched margin, the lateral lobes are very small and do not meet over the column, color rose pink." At sea-level. C. W. Powell 287 (TYPE in Herb. Ames No. 25017.) Epidendrum bractescens Lindley in Bot. Reg. 26 (1840) Misc. p. 58. Epidendrum aciculare Bateman apud Lindley in Epidendrum linearifolium Hooker in Bot. Mag. 77 Epidendrum esculentum Hort. Kew. in Herb. Hooker ex Lindley Fol. Orch. Epid. (1853) p. 15, in synon. Encyclia acicularis Schlechter Orchideen (1914) 207. The earliest name for the species usually known as Epidendrum aciculare is E.bractescens. This name has not been accepted in the past,- although as far back as 1861 Reichenbach (in Walp. Ann. 6 (1861) 333) reduced it to synonymy under E.aciculare,- because the plant typifying the species is abnormal. The abnormality (as shown by a photograph of the type sheet) is the result of the foliaceous development of the lowermost bracts of the inflorescence. While it is unfortunate to be obliged to replace a well-known specific name by an older one based upon an abnormal specimen, there seems to be no valid reason for rejecting the earlier name. There is little doubt but that the two concepts, as Reichenbach asserted, are the same. Aside from the foliaceous bracts of the inflorescence there is no substantial difference between the original descriptions of E. bractescens and E. aciculare. In 1922, the type sheet of E. bractescens Lindl. in the Lindley Herbarium was examined and photographed (by Ames) and the following comment noted: "E. bractescens is an abnormal form of E. aciculare...' Epidendrum costatum A. Richard & Galeotti in Comptes Rend. Acad. Sci. Par. 18 (1844) 510, 512, nomen; in Ann. Sci. Nat. ser. 3, 3 (1845) 21. The inadequate original description reads: Caule compresso; fol. elliptico-oblongis obtusis; flor. purpureis; racemo terminali: labello adnato orbiculari basi cordato crasso, costis divergentibus notato." The type of the species is in Paris and the photograph of it is not of great diagnostic value. There is, however, a colored drawing of the plant with an enlarged drawing of a single flower in the Reichenbachian Herbarium at Vienna. This drawing, which came from the Richard Herbarium, represents the type and is the only reliable guide we have to the identity of the species. In studying the Epidendrum material of the Gray Herbarium, we found two specimens collected by C. G. Pringle at Sierra de San Felipe, Oaxaca, Mexico (Pringle 5888 & 5889). These had been determined as E.lamprocaulon Reichb.f., but were unquestionably not referable |