ORCHIDACE^. (orchis FAMILY.) 485 



1. O. spectabilis, L. Leaves 2, obovate-oblong, about as long as the 



3 - 5-fiowered 5-aiigled scape ; bracts lanceolate, leafy, mostly longer than the 

 flowers ; sepals and petals conniveot, oblong, purple ; lip white, obovate, en- 

 tire, crenulate, as long as the club-shaped spur. — Rich shady woods iu the 

 upper districts. May. — Root of thick clustered fibres. Scape 4'- 6' high. 

 Flowers 6" -8" long. 



17. GYMNADENIA, R. Br. 



Sepals and petals nearly equal, the lateral sepals spreading, the upper, with 

 the rather shorter petals, arching and connivent over the short column. Lip 

 adnate to the base of the column, spurred at the base. Anther erect, the cells 

 contiguous and parallel. Pollen masses waxy, fixed by a stalk to the naked 

 glands of the stigma. — Stems leafy. Flowers small, spiked. 



* Ovary twisted ; the lip anterior. 



1. G. flava, Lindl. Stem slender (l°high); lowest leaf (4' -6' long) 

 lanceolate, sheathing, the others (6-8) small, the upjjermost passing into 

 the subulate bracts of the short (T- 2' long) oblong densely many-flowered 

 spike ; flowers orange-yellow ; lip ovate, slightly crenate ; spur filiform, de" 

 pending, shorter than the ovary. — Open grassy swamps, Florida, and north- 

 ward. July - August. 



2. G. tridentata, Lindl. Stem (9'- 12' high) scape-like above; lowest 

 leaf (4' -6' long) lanceolate-oblong, tapering into a sheathing base, obtuse, the 

 others small, scattered, passing into the bracts; spike (V-2' long) loosely 



4 - 12-flowered ; flowers yellowish green ; lip truncate, 3-toothed at the apex, 

 longer than the petals ; spur slender, club-shaped at the apex, curving up- 

 ward, longer than the ovary. — Low shady woods iu the upper districts. 

 July. 



* * Ovary straight : lip posterior. 



3. G. nivea, Gray & Engelm. Stem slender (I°-U° high) ; leaves nu- 

 merous, one or two of the lower ones linear (4' -8' long), the others small and 

 bract-like; spike (2' -4' long) cylindrical, loosely many-flowered; flowers 

 white ; lateral sepals ovate, slightly eared at the base ; petals and entire lip 

 linear-oblong ; spur filiform, ascending, as long as the white roughish ovary. 

 — Pine barren swamps, Florida, Georgia, and westward. July. 



18. PLATANTHERA, Richard. 



Sepals and petals nearly equal, the lateral sepals mostly spreading or re- 

 flexed. Lip entire or variously lobed or divided, spurred at the base. Column 

 short. Anther cells diverging. Stigma without appendages, with the glands 

 naked. — Root composed of thick fleshy fibres. Stems mostly leafy. Flowers 

 spiked or racemed, commonly showy. 



* Lip entire, neither toothed nm- fringed. 

 1. P. orbiculata, Lindl. Leaves two, at the base of the scape-like 

 bracted stem, large, orbicular, fleshy, spreading on the ground, silvery be- 

 neath ; flowers greenish white, in a narrow and loose raceme, longer than the 

 bracts; lateral sepals obliquely ovate, spreading, the upper orbicular; petals 



