SPIRANTHES 



6. SPIRANTHES L. C. Rich. 



Terrestrial herbs, roots fibrous or tuberous, stems leafy or 

 the flowering leafless. Leaves linear, ovate or elliptical. Flowers 

 small, secund, in often twisted spikes. Sepals free, subequal, 

 median erect, cohering with the petals ; lateral gibbous at the 

 base. Lip sessile or clawed, erect, concave, embracing the column 

 and often adherent to it, spreading at the apex, entire or 3-lobed, 

 base concave, sometimes with calli inside. Column short, terete, 

 base generally decurrent on the ovary ; stigma broad under the 

 rostellum, which is erect, obtuse, or elongate ; clinandrium short, 

 margins sometimes raised and continuous with the rostellum. 

 Anther erect, ovate or oblong, 2 celled ; pollinia powdery-granular, 

 pendulous from a gland of the rostellum. Capsule ellipsoidal, 

 erect. 



Species about 85, widely dispersed through the north temperate 

 zone and tropical Asia and America to Chile. 



Leaves linear or linear-lanceolate, gener- ■''^' 



ally decaying before flowering 1. S. tortilis. 



Leaves ovate or elliptical, present during 

 flowering. 



Leaves all radical 2. S. elata. 



Leaves radical and along the stem ... 3. S. Fawcettii. 



1. S. tortilis L. G. Bich. in Mem. Mus. Par. iv. 59 (1817) 

 (in part, excl. S. quadridentata) ; leaves radical, generally decaying 

 before flowering, linear or linear-lanceolate, erect, clasping at 

 base, elongate ; lip shortly clawed, ovate-elliptical, scarcely 

 3-lobed, slightly cordate at base, emarginate at apex, margin of 

 upper half curled, crenulate, with numerous nerves, median 

 nerve prominent below, with two conical calli at base, green 

 shaded ofi" into white at margin. — Lindl. Gen. d Sp. Orch. 468; 

 Griaeb. Ft. Br. W. Ind. 640; Gogn. in Symb. Ant. vi. 342. 

 S. apiculata Lindl. op. cit. 474. Satyrium spirale Sw. Prodr. 

 118 (1788). Neottia tortilis Sw. in Vet. Handl. Stochh. 1800, 

 226, k FI. Lid. Occ. Hi. 1406, t. 28,/. g, h. (PI. 3, f. 1-5.) 



On damp shady banks and in pastures ; in fl. and fr. March- June ; 

 Hollis Savanna, Clarendon ; Guy's Hill, St. Mary ; Purdie ! Fairfield, 

 Wullschlaegel, 1067! Hanover, J.P. 2312, Morris I Cinchona, 4900 ft., 

 Moore \ Castleton, 490 ft., Fawcettl Harris I Farm Hill, Miss B. Gossetl 

 below Vinegar Hill, Portland, 3000 ft. ; between Cinchona and Morse's 

 Gap, 4900 ft.; Harris! FL Jam. 7314, 7853, 9553, 10,495.— Louisiana, 

 Florida, Bermuda, Bahamas, Cuba, Hispaniola, Porto Rico, St. Thomas, 

 Antigua, Guadeloupe, Dominica, Martinique, St. Lucia, Grenada, Trinidad. 



Plant 1-1^ ft. high. Scaxje erect, slender, sparsely pubescent near apex, 

 glabrous below, 2-4 dm. Leaves striate, smooth, to 3 dm. Sheaths 6 or 7, 

 tubular below, free portion lanceolate, acute, 3-1 cm. 1. Spike erect, 



