506 ORCMlDACEk. (orchis FAMILif.) 



15. ORCHIS, L. 



Flower ringent ; the sepals and petals nearly equal. Lip turned downward, 

 coalescing with the base of tlie column, spurred below. Anther-cells contigu- 

 ous and parallel. Pollen cohering in numerous coarse waxy grains, which are 

 collected on a cobweb-like elastic tissue into 2 large masses (one filling each 

 anther-cell) borne on a slender stalk, the base of which is attached to a gland 

 or sticky disk of the stigma, the two glands contained in a common little pouch 

 or hooded fold, placed just above the orifice of the spur. Flowers showy, in a 

 spike. — Our species with low scape-like stems, with 1 or 2 leaves at base, from 

 fieshy-fibrous roots. (Opx^s, the ancient name.) 



1. O. spectabilis, L. (Showy Orchis.) Root of thick fleshy fibres, />ro- 

 ducing 2 oblong -ohovate shining leaves (3-6' long), and a few-flowered 4 angled 

 scape (4 - 7' high) ; bracts leaf-like, lanceolate ; sepals and petals all lightly 

 united to form the vaulted galea or upper lip, pink-purple, the ovate undivided 

 lip white. — Kich woods, N. Brunswick to Ga., west to Minn, and Mo. May. 



2. O. rotundifolia, Pursh. Stem naked above, l-leaved at base (5-9' 

 high), from a slender creeping rootstock ; leaf varying from almost orbicular 

 to oblong (1^-3' long); flowers rose-purple, the lip white and spotted with 

 purple, 3-lobed, and the larger middle lobe dilated and 2-lobed or strongly 

 notched at the summit (4-6" long), exceeding the ovate-oblong petals and 

 sepals, and the slender depending spur. (Habenaria rotundifolia, Richard- 

 son.) — Damp woods and bogs, N. Maine to Vt., N. Y., Minn., and northward. 



16. HABENARIA, Willd. Reix-OrchiSo 



Glands or viscid disks (to which the pollen-masses are attached) naked and 

 exposed, separate, sometimes widely so (becoming attached, some to the pro- 

 boscis, others to the face or head of insects feeding upon the nectar of the spur, 

 the pollen thus carried from one blossom to another) ; otherwise nearly as in 

 true Orchis ; the lateral sepals, however, mostly spreading. (Name from habena, 

 a thong or rein, in allusion to the shape of the lip or spur of some species.) 

 § 1. GYMNADEXIA. Cells of the anther parallel and approximate, their 



glands therefore contiguous. {^Appendages of the stigma in our species two 



or three and much developed, oblong or club-shaped.) 



1. H. tridentata, Hook. Stem slender (6-12' high), with a single ob- 

 long or oblanceolate obtuse leaf below, and 2 or 3 small ones like bracts above; 

 spike 6 - 12-flowered, oblong ; flowers greenish or whitish, very small ; lip wedge 

 oblong, truncate, and icith 3 short teeth at the apex ; the slender and slightly club 

 shaped spur curved upward, longer than the ovary. — Wet woods, X. Eng. to 

 Minn, and Ind., and south in the mountains to N. C. June, July. — Root of 

 few fleshy fibres. Appendages of the stigma three, oblong-club-shaped, one 

 outside each orbicular gland and one between them, rising as high as the 

 anther-cell, their cellular viscid summits receiving pollen in the unopened 

 flower, and penetrated by pollen-tubes ! 



2. H. Integra, Spreng. Root of very fleshy fibres (or some of them 

 tuber-like) ; stem several-leaved (15' high), the 1 or 2 lower leaves elongated, 

 oblong-lanceolate, acute, the others becoming smaller and bract-like ; spike 

 densely many-flowered, oblong-cylindrical ; flowers orange-yellow, small , lip 



