6 4 



THE ORCHIDS OF NEW ENGLAND. 





Ichnenmonidce at first surpassed all other visitors in observation 

 and discernment, and were thus able to produce inconspicuous 

 flowers which escaped the notice of other visitors. On the 

 appearance of sand-wasps and bees these inconspicuous flowers 

 were banished by competition to the less frequented localities 

 (e. g., Listera to shady woods)." 



Our larger species, Listera convallarioidcs, due ten days or so 

 later in damp places along brooks, has 

 a longer column than L. cordata, and 

 the flowers are somewhat pubescent or 

 downy. L. convallarioidcs, as I learn 

 partly from the Report of the Geological 

 ~S\ x Exploration of the 40th Parallel, has 



the following extended range: "Can- 

 ada to North Carolina (rare in lower 

 New England for some mysterious rea- 

 son), westward to Rocky Mountains and 

 Unalaska. Found in the East Hum- 

 boldt Mountains at an elevation of 7,000 

 feet." Both our species are so faintly 

 colored that it is almost absurd to speak 

 of them as having color at all, and they 

 are so fragile, watery and translucent in substance that it is 

 impossible to represent them in a sketch without exaggerating 

 their size. I have grouped them with a species of Liparis, or 

 Twayblade, L. Lceselii, a small, coarse herb with the greenish- 

 yellow colors of the Listeras, and like them a dweller in wet 

 places. 



In Liparis, which is a genus of the tribe Malaxideae, "the 

 anther is attached to the apex of the elongated, incurved col- 

 umn ; the 4 pollen-masses arranged in one row (2 to each cell) 

 have no stalks, connecting tissues or gland." These herbs have 

 " solid bulbs." The lip is spurless as in Listera ; and in L. Lces- 

 elii, whose flowers have a combative air like so many little drag- 



1, 2. Flower of Liparis Lce- 

 selii. 



3 Seed-vessels of same. 



4. Flower of Listera conval- 

 larioides. (Anther removed.) 



