LONG-BRACTED ORCHID 



Habenaria bracteata iMiihl.) R. Br. 



May - June 'riu'ic jirc (•()m|i;iiati\rly lew urcliiils in Illinois; it is not 

 Woods the proper habitat lor most t»i" them, some of which live 



only in cool. acid. s]ihajZHimi hoi^s. some in coniferous 

 swamp.-, or in other intensely aeid, cold soil. At one timi', long ago before 

 the landscape of Illinois was changed by plowing, overgrazing of forest- 

 land, (liainage of water courses, ami othei' man-made influences, there 

 were tar moi-e wild urchids. Some of these in a few remaining orchid- 

 haunts still come up vnvh spi-ing and blossom and set their seeds in the 

 ancient manner of the tribe. 



The long-braited orchid does not have that colorful elegance of the 

 lady's slippers and fringe(l oichids. It has, however, in its small individual 

 llowers. the same intriiate and eurious meehanism and closely held form 

 which all orchids ]ios.sess. Yet as the ])lant grows in the damj) woods or 

 in a tliicket, it is so green throughout that it may be overlooked by all 

 but the most e\]ierienced onhid hunter. 



'J'he long-braeted oi'ehid lias a s])ike of green llowers with a long 

 green bract e.xtendijig outward below each flower. The leaves are few-; 

 they clasp the stout stem; they are smooth, ])ale green, glossy. 



It is a ]ilant whose range is wide and varitnl. Tlie same species which 

 grows in a certain Illinois wo(k1s also gnnvs in a similar habitat from 

 Nova Scotia to Ala.^'ka and south to Washington, Minnesota, and Penn- 

 sylvania, and along the A])])ala(hian mountains to the Smokies in North 

 Carolina. .\nd in the same sort of haunt, the same sjiecies of wild orchid 

 grows in damp woods and thickets in China and Japan. 



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