ORCHIDACE.E. 397 



SPIRANTHES. f.b.i. 148 lxxxvii. 



Lady's tresses. 



Ground orchids distinguished from all others by 

 the spiral arrangement of the small white flowers on 

 a twisted spike. 



Rootstock with thick white roots, and ending above in 

 the flowering and leafy stem. Leaves spirally arranged, 

 not jointed at the base. Middle sepal and petals 

 forming a hood over the short column, but not fused 

 together: lateral sepals free, with more or less parallel 

 nerves. Lip different in shape, hanging down vertically, 

 small, oblong, concave, crisped, hairy at the middle, with 

 short spur. Anther erect, attached to the equally long, 

 erect rostellum, two-celled, with two waxy polliniums 

 pendulous from the top. 



Species about 80 in tropical mountains and in temperate 

 regions. In England three, the commonest being S. autumnalis 

 Lady's tresses. 



Spiranthcs australis Lindley ; F.B.L vi 102, LXXXVII I. 

 Stem 6 to 8 inches, rather slender. Leaves mostly near 

 the base, 2 to 5 inches, narrow oblanceolate, acute, hardly 

 5^ inch wide, sheathing the stem for a short way. Stalk 

 of spike slender ; flowering part 3 to 6 inches, the flowers 

 close together in a dense spiral, white. Sepals 1/6 

 by i/i6 inch : petals slightly shorter. Lip three-lobed, 

 with two glands at the base. Capsule J4 inch, ribbed. 

 t.251. 



Pulneys : common on the Kodaikanal downs, flowers summer. 

 Nilgiris : Pykara, flowers May and near Coonoor. Fyson 2017, 

 2923. Bourne 35. 



Gen. Dist. On mountains throughout India, from the Punjab and 

 Thibet to Ceylon and Chittagong. Eastwards to China, Japan, Australia, 

 New Zealand ; northwards to Afghanistan and northern Asia. 



