ORCniDACE^:. (orchis FAMILY.) I.V.i 



adnate to the ba.-e of the column, sparred 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 therefore anterior. 



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

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

 subulate bracts of the short (l'-2' long) oblong densely many-flowered spike ; 

 flowers orange-yellow; lip ovate, slightly crenate ; spur filiform, depending, 

 shorter than the ovary. (Orchis flava, Nutt., not of Linn.) — Open grassy 

 swamps in the pine barrens, Florida, and northward. July and Aug. 



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 (l'-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 upward, longer 

 than the ovary. (Orchis clavellata, Michx.) — Low shady woods in the upper 

 districts, Mississippi to North Carolina, and northward. July. 



* * Ovary straight : lip posterior. 



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

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

 braet-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. (Orchis nivea, 

 Nutt.) — Pine-barren swamps, Florida, Georgia, and westward. July. 



13. PLATANTHERA, Richard. 



Sepals and petals nearly equal, the lateral sepals mostly spreading or reflexed. 

 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 nor fringed. 



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

 stem, large, orbicular, fleshy, spreading on the ground, silvery beneath ; flowers 

 greenish-white, in a narrow and loose raceme, longer than the bracts ; lateral 

 sepals obliquely ovate, spreading, the upper orbicular ; petals narrower ; lip 

 lincar-spatulate, entire, recurved ; spur very long, club-shaped, curved. — Shady 

 woods on the mountains of North Carolina, and northward. July and Aug. — 

 Scape 1° - 1£° high. Leaves 5' - 8' in diameter. 



* * Lip 3-toothed or 3-lobed: flowers spiked: stem leafy. 



2. P. flava, Gray. Leaves 3 - 4 ; the two lower ones lanceolate or oblong- 

 lanceolate (4'- 8' long), the others small and bract-like ; flowers small, brownish 

 green, in a loose and slender many-flowered spike ; sepals and petals oval ; lip 

 oblong, hastate - 3-lobed, the lateral lobes short and rounded, the middle one 



