680 ORDER 138. ORCHIDACE^E. 



ORDER CXXXVII. BURMANNIACE^E. 



Small annual herbs with slender, scaly or naked stems and scale-like, tufted leaves. 

 Flowers perfect, with a tubular, 6-toothed perianth adherent to the ovary. Stamens 

 3, opposite the smaller teeth (petals), introrse, or 6 and extrorse. Capsule 1 or 3- 

 celled, seeds numerous, minute, loose in a membranous testa, 



Genera 7, specie* 30, in wet, grassy places in the warm parts of Asia, Africa and America 

 They are said to be bitter and astringent. 



1. APTE^RIA, Nutt. (Gr. a, privative, nrepov, a wing.) Perianth 

 bell-tubular, tube longer than the slender teeth, marescent ; teeth alter- 

 nately narrower ; capsule globular, wingless, 1 -celled, valves opening 

 first at base ; placentae parietal ; seeds innumerable, oblong, very min- 

 ute. Q) Herbs apparently leafless. 



A. setacea Nutt. Erect, very slender, with remote, subulate scales, and divid- 

 ing above into 2 racemes ; fls. distant, pedicellate. Moist, shady woods, Fla. 

 and La. (Hale). St 4 to 6f high. Raceme often simple. Coralla 3 to 4" long, 

 purplish. 



2. BURMAN'NIA, L. (Dedicated to one Burmann, a German bota- 

 nist.) Perianth tube scarcely produced above the ovary, often 3-winged 

 below, limb with 3 inner teeth much shorter; capsule prismatic, often 

 3-winged, cells 3, with a thick placenta) in the axis ; seeds numerous. 

 (J) Leafless. 



1 B. biflora L. St. capillary, simple, with scarcely perceptible bracts, and 1 or 2. 

 rarely more, small light blue flowers at top, the angles of the tube conspicuously 

 winged. Grassy swamps in the lower districts, Va. to Fla. and La. St. 2 to 3' 

 high. Fls. 2 to 3" long. Oct., Nov. 



2 B. capitata L. St. setaceous, furnished with a few subulate bracts, simple, 

 erect, bearing at top a dense cluster of white fls. ; ovary and fruit scarcely winged. 

 Upper districts of S. Car. and Ga. (Bachman), less common and with smaller fls. 

 than in the last. St. 6 to 8' high. Sept 



ORDER CXXXVIII. ORCHIDACE^l. ORCHIDS. 



Herbs perennial, with fleshy roots, simple, entire, parallel veined leaves. Flowers 

 very irregular, with an adherent, ringent perianth of 6 parts. Sepals 3, usually 

 colored, odd one uppermost by the twisting of the ovary. Petals 3, usually colored, 

 odd one lowest by the twisting of the ovary. Lip (labellum, the odd petal) diverse 

 in form, often lobed, frequently spurred at base. Stamens 3, gyuandrous (consoli- 

 dated with the style), 2 of them or more, rarely 1 of them, abortive or obsolete, the 

 pollen powdery, or coherent in waxy masses. Ovary inferior, 1-celled, with 3 pari- 

 etal placentae and innumerable ovules. .ft"iit capsular, 3-valved. Seeds numerous 

 and very minute. Illust. in Figs. 29, 37, b, 57, 85, 200, 327, 3GG. 



Genera 39-l> xpecifR 3000? They nre among the most interesting and cnrions plants, almost al- 

 ways remarkable for the grotesque form of their tortuous roots and stums, and the fragrance, 

 brilliancy and odd structure of the flowers. 



The Orel. ids are natives of nearly every part of the world. In the tropics multitudes of 

 them are epiphytes, growing on living trees or decaying timber. 



This order is remarkable for those qualities only which please the eye. They not only excel 

 in beauty and delicacy, but often closely imitntc objects of the animal kingdom, as bees, flies, 

 spiders, doves, swans, pelicans, &c , especially those of the tropical regions. Many of its species 

 are cultivated for ornament but few of them possess either active or useful properties. The 

 falep of commerce is a nutritive, mucilaginous substance afforded by the roots of some Asiatic 

 Orchis. The aromatic vanilla^ used to flower chocolate, &c., is the fruit of the West Indian 

 Vanilla claviculata. 



