324 breck's new book of flowers. 



PHYSOSTEGIA.— False Dragon-head. 



[From the Greek for bladder and to cover, as the calyx becomes bladder-like 

 when iu fruit.] 



Physost^gia Virginiana.— Virginian Dragon-head.— A 

 perennial with stems three feet high, bearing dense, one- 

 sided spikes of purplish flowers, in June and July. Indi- 

 genous at the West and South. This was formerly called 

 Dracocephalum Yirginimium^ and its varieties have been 

 called D, dentatum and D. variegatum. 



PL AT ANTHER A.— False Orchis. 



[From the Greek words for wide and anther.'] 



The plants included here were formerly regarded as be- 

 longing to the genus Orchis, from which they are distin- 

 guished by the spreading apart of their anther cells. 

 They are still popularly called Orchis. 



Most of the species are found in wet boggy ground, and 

 will require a moist and rather shady spot. If the soil be 

 made of peat and leaf mould, I know they will remain 

 and flower for a couple of years, for I have been success- 

 ful in the experiment. They are chiefly propagated by 

 their tubers, which in most of the species are of a pecu- 

 liar structure. An Orchis taken out of the ground is 

 found with two solid masses at the base of the stem, 

 above which proceed the thick fleshy fibres which nourish 

 the plant. One of these bulbs or tubers is destined to be 

 the successor of the other, and is plump and vigorous, 

 whilst the other, or decaying one, is always wrinkled and 

 withered. From this withered one has proceeded the ex- 

 isting stem, and the plump one is an offset, from the cen- 

 ter of which the stem of the succeeding year will come. 

 By this means, the actual situation is changed about half 

 an inch every year ; and as the offset is always produced 



