THE ORCHIDS OF NEW ENGLAND. 



The Large Coral-root, C. mult i flora, shows itself in dry 

 v/oods about this time, in Vermont, dull pink, purple and 

 yellow shading into each other on its scape and blossoms, 

 and a decided knob borne on the ovary answering to a spur. 

 This species is found in Washington Territory and California, 

 as well as in the Northern States and Canada, and it was found 

 in one locality at an elevation of 7,000 feet 

 by the explorers of the 40th Parallel, their 

 botanical report describing it as flowering in 

 July, and having " sepals and petals strongly 

 veined." Our New England woods bring 

 forth at the same time another parasitic 

 plant, puzzlingly like a Coral-root to the 

 young collector, and this, known as Epiphe- 

 gus or Beech-drops, is a stiff, unhappy look- 

 ing thing, which, if it really masquerades as 

 an Orchid, quite overdoes the business by 

 branching into a low shrub and blooming 

 more profusely than Multiflora even. 



Having spoken rather disparagingly of the 

 Coral-roots, I scarcely know how to de- 

 scribe or to make my finest pointed pencil 

 flatter the One-leaved Adder's Mouth, Mi- 

 crostylis monophyllos, or the other species, 

 coming later in July, M. ophioglossoides ; di- FiG.26.— adders' mouths. 



Microstylis ophioglossoi- 



minutive bulbous herbs that stagger under des. 



,. . . ,~ ., , TT ,., ... Microstylis monophyllos. 



their scientific titles. Wholly attired in 

 green, and odorless, they are well concealed in their swamps 

 and wet forests, but to the tiny gnats and flies that must fer- 

 tilize them they are fully as important as the gigantic Lady's 

 Slipper that may overshadow them is to its bee. Here, in 

 each flower, are spreading sepals and petals ; a long, round 

 column with an erect anther; 4 waxy pollen-masses in one 

 row. The coat of arms, though small, is legitimately dis- 



