90 



OECHIDACEAE. 



ously united with the style into an unsymmetrical column ; anther 1 or in 

 Cypripedium 2, 2-eelled; 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 between the 

 anther-sacs (clinandrium). Ovary 3-angled, 1-celled; ovules numerous, 

 anatropous, on 3 parietal placentae. Capsule 3-valved. Seeds mostly 

 spindle shaped, the loose coat hyaline, reticulated; embryo fleshy. About 

 410 genera and 5000 species, of wide distribution, most abundant in the 

 tropics, many of those of warm regions epiphytes. 



1. IBIDIUM Salisb. 



Erect herbs, with fleshy-fibrous or tuberous roots and slender stems or 

 scapes, leaf -bearing below or at the base. Flowers small, spurless, spiked, 1-3- 

 rowed, the spikes more or less twisted. Sepals free, or more or less coherent, 

 or sometimes united with petals into a galea. Lip concave, erect, embracing 

 the column, spreading and crisped, or rarely lobed or toothed at the apex, bear- 

 ing minute callosities at the base. Column arched below, obliquely attached 

 to the top of the ovary. Anther without a lid, borne on the back of the 

 column, erect. Stigma ovate, prolonged into an acuminate beak, at length 

 bifid, covering the anther and stigmatic only underneath. Pollinia 2, 1 in each 

 sac, powdery. Capsule ovoid or oblong, erect. [Greek, the anther has a fancied 

 resemblance to the head of an Ibis.] About 55 species, widely distributed in 

 tropical and temperate regions. Type species: Ophrys spiralis J. E. Smith. 



1. Ibidium xyridifolium J. K. Small. 

 XYKIS-LEAVED LADIES-TRESSES. (Fig. 

 111.) Boots tuberous, several; stems 

 8'-2 tall, simple, glabrous or nearly so 

 below the inflorescence; leaves linear, 

 -'-4' long, the largest of the lower ones 

 barely reaching the middle of the stem; 

 spike l'-6' long; bracts lanceolate to ob- 

 long-lanceolate; perianth whitish, pu- 

 bescent without, 3"-4" long, curved and 

 slightly nodding; lateral sepals linear- 

 lanceolate; lip about 3" long, cordate at 

 the base, with a rhombic-orbicular base 

 and oblong much crisped drooping or re- 

 curved tip ; callosities nipple-like, pro- 

 jecting backward; capsules 3"-4" long, 

 obovoid-clavate, curved. [Spiranthes tor- 

 tilis of Eein, H. B. Small, Verrill, and 

 Hemsley; S. brevilabris of Lefroy.] 



Locally abundant in grassy places, 

 Devonshire and Pembroke Marshes, flower- 

 ing in spring. Southeastern United States, 

 its minute light seeds probably transported 

 to Bermuda by winds. 



