ORCHID FAMILY. Orchidacex. 



ORCHID FAMILY. Orchidacece. 



Perennial herbs having perfect flowers, the various 

 parts of which are irregular in structure but symmetri- 

 cal in arrangement. There are three similar sepals 

 colored like petals, two lateral petals, and below these a 

 third unique petal called the lip, conspicuously colored, 

 often spurred, and containing nectar for the attraction 

 of insects. The latter in the effort to reach the nectar 

 invariably dislodge the peculiarly adhesive pollen-clus- 

 ters and eventually carry them to the next blossom. 

 The ingenious mechanical device of the flower to insure 

 cross-fertilization is simple but effective. The orchids, 

 except the Cypripedium, have but one stamen which is 

 united with the style into one common column placed at 

 the axil of the flower facing the lip. The stigma, the 

 usual termination of the style, is a gummy surface 

 located directly below the so-called rostellum, the re- 

 ceptacle of the anther, and the actual termination of 

 the style. In the two anther-cells above the rostellum 

 there are two pollinia, or stemmed pear-shaped pollen- 

 clusters, each composed of several packets of pollen 

 tied together by elastic threads ; these threads running 

 together form the stem terminated by a sticky disc. It 

 is these discs which attach to the tongues or heads of 

 insects and insure the transportation of the pollen- 

 masses to the gummy stigma of another flower. The 

 orchids as a general rule are incapable of self-fertiliza- 

 tion, and are wholly dependent upon long-tongued 

 insects for the transportation of their pollen. In Cypri- 

 pedium, the stigma is not a gummy surface but is in a 

 cavity between the anther-cells. 



A small species with tiny white-green 

 Mouth flowers in a small cluster about the size of 



Microstyiis mignonette. A single oval, pointed leaf 

 ophioglossoides clasps the slender stem about half-way up. 

 Whitish green The sepals are oblong, and the lip three- 



u y pointed. Fruit capsule oval. The name 



from the Greek, meaning small and column or style. 



4-9 inches high. In cold woods or bogs, from Me., 



southj and west to Minn, and Mo. Found at Jackson, 



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