MOUNTAIN FLOWERS 107 



yellowish-green, fairly large, and possess a broad lip with two 

 lobes at the delicate apex. 



The Twayblades present a strong contrast to the Coral- 

 root. They are conspicuously green and healthy of leaf. 



LADIES' TRESSES 



Spiranthes Romanzoffiana. Orchid Family 



Root tuberous. Stems: glabrous, leafy below, bracted above. Leaves: 

 oblong-lanceolate. Flowers: spike dense, in three rows, conspicuously 

 bracted ; perianth white, the petals and sepals all connivent, lip recurved, 

 ovate-oblong, contracted below the narrower wavy-crenulate summit. 



This is the last orchid of the season, found chiefly in wet 

 marshy places, just when the power of the summer sun begins 

 to wane. It is a beautiful fragrant flower, growing in dense 

 snowy spikes, and has long narrow leaves. Considering that 

 orchids are reckoned as amongst the rarest and richest treas- 

 ures of Nature, it is strange how many species of them grow 

 wild in the mountains. Of course they are all terrestrial ones ; 

 we have none of the kinds which grow on trees and develop 

 false bulbs. 



RATTLESNAKE PLANTAIN 



Goodyej-a Metiziesii. Orchid Family 



Stems : scape glandular pubescent. Leaves : blotched with white, ovate. 

 Flowers : galea concave, ovate, with a short, spreading, recurved tip ; 

 anther ovate, pointed on the base of the stigma into a gland-bearing awl- 

 shaped beak. 



This plant has a cluster of leaves at the base only; these 

 are covered with a network of white veins and frequently also 

 have white blotches on them. The flowers grow in a bracted 

 spike, are greenish-white, and have a very hairy stalk. 



Goodye7'a repe7is, or Small Rattlesnake Plantain, has also 

 peculiar white-veined leaves, but in this species they grow up 

 the stalk as well as at its base. The whole plant is smaller 

 than G. Mc7iziesii, and its insignificant flowers grow only on 



