GENUS i. 



BURMANNIA FAMILY. 



547 



i. BURMANNIA L. Sp. PI. 287. 1753. 



Erect herbs, with simple stems and small alternate scale-like leaves. Tube of the perianth 

 strongly 3-angled or 3-winged, the 3 outer lobes longer than the inner. Stamens 3, opposite 

 the inner perianth-lobes. Filaments very short; connective of the anthers prolonged beyond 

 the sacs into a 2-cleft crest. Ovary 3-celled, with 3 thick 2-lobed central placentae ; stigmas 

 globose or 2-lobed. Capsule crowned by the perianth, opening by irregular lateral ruptures. 

 [In honor of Johann Burmann, Dutch botanist of the eighteenth century.] 



About 20 species, natives of warm regions. Besides the following, another occurs in the south- 

 eastern States. Type species : Burmannia disticha L. 



i. Burmannia biflora L. Northern Bur- 

 mannia. Fig. 1353. 



Burmannia biflora L. Sp. PI. 287. 17 53' 

 Tripterella coerulea Nutt. Gen. i : 22. 1818. 



Stems very slender, 2'-6' high, from a few 

 fibrous roots, simple or forked above. Flowers 

 i or several, often 2, terminal. Angles of the 

 perianth-tube conspicuously winged, the outer 

 lobes ovate, acute, the inner linear and incurved ; 

 seeds very numerous, oblong-linear, sparingly 

 striate, escaping through irregular fissures in the 

 sides of the capsule. 



In swamps and bogs, Virginia to Florida and 

 Louisiana. Sept.-Nov. 



I8 3 6. 



Family 32. ORCHIDACEAE Lindl. Nat. Syst. Ed. 2 : 336. 



ORCHID FAMILY. 



Perennial herbs, with corms, bulbs or tuberous roots, sheathing entire leaves, 

 sometimes reduced to scales, the flowers perfect, irregular, bracted, solitary, spiked 

 or racemed. Perianth superior, of 6 segments, the 3 outer (sepals) similar or 

 nearly so, 2 of the inner ones (petals) lateral, alike; the third inner one (lip) 

 dissimilar, often markedly so, usually larger, often spurred, sometimes inferior 

 by torsion of the ovary or pedicel. Stamens variously united with the style into 

 an unsymmetrical column; anther i, or in a few genera 2, 2-celled; pollen in 2-8 

 pear-shaped usually stalked masses (pollinia), united by elastic threads, the masses 

 waxy or powdery, attached at the base to a viscid disk (gland). Style often 

 terminating in a beak (rostellum) at the base of the anther or between its sacs. 

 Stigma a viscid surface, facing the lip beneath the rostellum, or in a cavity be- 

 tween the anther-sacs (clinanclrium). Ovary inferior, usually long and twisted, 

 3-angled, i-celled; ovules numerous, anatropous, on 3 parietal placentae. Capsule 

 3-valved. Seeds very numerous, minute, mostly spindle-shaped, the loose coat 

 hyaline, reticulated ; endosperm none ; embryo fleshy. 



About 430 genera and over 5000 species, of wide distribution, most abundant in the tropics, 

 many of those of warm regions epiphytes. 

 Anthers 2 ; lip a large inflated sac. (CYPRIPEDIEAE.) 



Lip not fissured ; stems leafy. i. Cypripedium. 



Lip fissured in front ; leaves 2, basal. 2. Fissipes. 



Anther solitary. 



Pollinia with a caudicle, which is attached at the base to a viscid disk or gland. (ORCHIDEAE.) 

 Gland enclosed in a pouch. 



Sepals free ; lip 3-lobed. 3. Orchis. 



Sepals united above into a hood ; lip entire. 4. Galeorchis. 



Gland not enclosed in a pouch. 



Lip not fringed nor cut-toothed. 



Stem leafy ; anther sacs mostly parallel. 



Valves of the anthers dilated at the base enclosing the gland below. 5. Perularia. 

 Valves not dilated at the bas. 



Gland surrounded by a thin membrane. 6. Coeloglossum. 



Gland naked. 



Beak of the stigma with 2 or 3 appendages. 7. Gymnadeniopsis. 



Beak of the stigma not appendaged. 



