448 orchibacejE. (orchis family.) 



5. SPIRANT II E§, Richard. Ladies' Tresses. 



Flower somewhat ringent; the lateral sepals rather oblique at the base and 

 somewhat decurrent on the ovary, covering the base of the lip ; the upper one 

 cohering with the petals ; all usually erect. Lip oblong, concave and embracing 

 the wingless column below, furnished with 2 callosities next the base, contracted 

 into a short claw below them or sessile, the spreading apex more or less dilated. 

 Column arching, obliquely short-stalked, the ovate stigma usually with u 

 short-pointed and at length 2-cleft beak. Author attached to the back of the 

 column. Pollen-masses 2, club-shaped or obovate, fixed to the stigma by 

 a gland, deeply 2-cleft from the broader end (and in S. gracilis again 2-cleft) 

 into tender lamellce which are more or less inrolled when young, bearing 

 the powdery pollen-grains. — Roots clustered-tubcrous. Stems naked, or 

 leafy below. Flowers small, white, bent horizontal, in a close usually spi- 

 rally twisted spike (whence the name, from ane'ipa, a coil or curl, and livBos, 

 blossom). 



* Scope naked, barely bracted below : leaves all at or near the ground, early disap- 

 pearing : flowers all one-sided. 



1. S. gracilis, Bigelow. Scape very slender (S'-15' high), smooth; 

 spike slender, so twisted as to throw the flowers as they expand all into a single 

 (straightish or usually spiral) row; bracts ovate, pointed, not longer than the 

 pods, to which they are closely appresscd ; lip spatulatc-oblong, strongly wavy- 

 crisped at the rounded summit (not lobed), the callosities at the base conspicu- 

 ous, incurved ; leaves varying from ovate to oblong-lanceolate, petioled ( 1 ' - 2 

 long), thin. (Also S. Beekii, Lindl., as to the Northern plant.) — Hilly woods 

 and sandy plains : common. July, Aug. — Perianth and lip §' — \' long, of a 

 delicate pearly texture: the colli at first oval, bearded at the base inside, at 

 length elongating and recurved. 



* # Scape or stem leafy towards the base : flowers not unilateral. 



2. S. lafifoSia, Ton-, in Lindl. Low (4' -9' high) ; leaves oblong-lanceolate, 

 narrowed into a sheathing base ; spike oblong, rather dense, more or less twist- 

 ed ; bracts lanceolate, acutish, the lower as long as the flowers ; lip oblong, very 

 obtuse, wavy-crisped at the apex, 5 - 7-nerved below, and with 2 oblong adnata 

 callosities at the base. (S. plantaginea, Torr. in N. Y. Fl., not of Lindl. S. 

 aestivalis, Oakes, cat.)— Moist banks, N. New York, W. New England, and 

 northward; not rare. June. — Leaves chiefly towards the base of the stem, 

 2' -4' long and about |' wide, thickish; above are one or two small leaf-like 

 bracts. Flowers white with the lip yellowish, larger than in No. 1, much small- 

 er than in No. 3 ; the sepals minutely glandular-pubescent, as well as the axis 

 of the spike. — I find nothing to distinguish it from S. aestivalis except that the 

 flowers are a trifle smaller, and the bracts less acute. 



3. S. cernua, Richard. Root-leaves linear-lanceolate, elongated, those of the 

 stem similar but smaller, passing into bracts ; spike dense, minutely pubescent ; 

 bracts ovate-lanceolate, pointed, as long as the flowers ; lip oblong, furnished 

 with two minute callosities at the base, constricted above the middle, rounded at 

 the summit, wavy-crisped. — Wet grassy places ; common. Aug. - Oct. — Stem 



