506 OKCHIDACE^. (orchis FAMILY.) 



15. ORCHIS, L. 



Flower ringent ; the sepals and petals nearly equal. Lip turned downward, 

 coalescing witli the base of the column, spurred below. Anther-cells contigu- 

 ous and parallel. Pollen cohering in numerous coarse waxy grains, which are 

 collected on a cobweb-like elastic tissue into 2 large masses (one filling each 

 anther-cell) borne on a slender stalk, the base of Avhich is attached to a gland 

 or sticky disk of the stigma, the two glands contained in a common little pouch 

 or hooded fold, placed just above the orifice of tlie spur. Flowers showy, in a 

 spike. — Our species with low scape-like stems, with 1 or 2 leaves at base, from 

 fleshy-fibrous roots. (Opx^s, the ancient name.) 



1. O. spectabilis, L. (Showy Orchis.) Root of thick fleshy fibres, p-o- 

 ducing 2 ohlong-obovate shining leaves (3-6' long), and a few-flowered 4 angled 

 scape (4 - 7' high) ; bracts leaf-like, lanceolate ; sepals and petals all lightly 

 united to form the vaulted galea or upper lip, pink-purple, the ovate undivided 

 lip white. — Rich woods, N. Brunswick to Ga., west to Minn, and Mo. May. 



2. O. rotundifolia, Pursh, Stem naked above, l-leaved at base (5-9' 

 high), from a slender creeping rootstock ; leaf varying from almost orbicular 

 to oblong (1^-3' long); flowers rose-purple, the lip white and spotted with 

 purple, 3-lobed, and the larger middle lobe dilated and 2-lobed or strongly 

 notched at the summit (4-6" long), exceeding the ovate-oblong petals and 

 sepals, and the slender depending spur. (Habenaria rotundifolia, Richard- 

 son.) — Damp woods and bogs, N. Maine to Vt., N. Y., Minn., and northward. 



16. HABENARIA, Willd. Rlix-Oechis. 



Glands or viscid disks fto Avhich the pollen-masses are attached) naked and 

 exposed, separate, sometimes widely so (becoming attached, some to the pro- 

 boscis, others to the face or head of insects feeding upon the nectar of the spur, 

 the pollen thus carried from one blossom to another) ; otherAvise nearly as in 

 true Orchis ; the lateral sepals, hoAvever, mostly spreading. (Name from habena, 

 a thong or rein, in allusion to the shape of the lip or spur of some species.) 

 § 1. GYMXADENIA. Cells of the anther parallel and approximate, their 

 glands therefore contiguous. {Appendages of the stigma in our species two 

 or three and much developed, oblong or club-shaped.) 



1. H. tridentata, Hook. Stem slender (6- 1 2' high), Avith a single ob- 

 long or oblanceolate obtuse leaf beloAv, and 2 or 3 small ones like bracts aboA-e; 

 spike 6 - 12-floAvered, oblong ; floicers greenish or whitish, very small ; lip ivedge- 

 oblong, truncate, and with 3 short teeth at the apex ; the slender and slightly club- 

 shaped spur curved upAvard, longer than the OA^ary. — Wet Avoods, N. Eng. to 

 Minn, and Ind., and south in the mountains to N. C. June, July. — Root of 

 fcAv fleshy fibres. Appendages of the stigma three, oblong-club-shaped, one 

 outside each orbicular gland and one betAveen them, rising as high as the 

 anther-cell, their cellular viscid summits receiving pollen in the unopened 

 floAver, and penetrated by pollen-tubes ! 



2. H. Integra, Spreng. Root of very fleshy fibres (or some of them 

 tuber-like) ; stem several-leaved (15' high), the 1 or 2 loAver leaves elongated, 

 oblong-lanceolate, acute, the others becoming smaller and bract-like; spike 

 densely many-flowered, oblong-cylindrical ; flowers orange-yellow, small ; lip 



