GENUS 28. 



ORCHID FAMILY. 



577 



i. Hexalectris spicata (Nutt.) Barnhart. 

 Crested Coral-root. Fig. 1419. 



Arethusa spicata Walt. Fl. Car. 222. 1788. 

 Bletia aphylla Nutt. Gen. 2: 194. 1818. 

 Hexalectris squamosiis Raf. Fl. Tell. 4: 48. 1836. 

 H. aphyllus Raf.; A. Gray, Man. Ed. 6, 501. 1890. 

 H. spicata Barnhart, Torreya 4: 121. 1904. 



Scape stout, 8'-2o' high, its upper scales lanceolate, 

 the lower sheathing and truncate or acute. Raceme 

 4'-7' long, 8-i2-flowered; flowers large, brownish 

 purple, i' high or more; pedicels short, stout; sepals 

 and petals narrowly elliptic, obtuse or acutish, 

 spreading, striped with purple veins, 6"-p" long, 

 longer than the broad lip ; middle lobe of the lip 

 rounded or crenulate, the lateral ones shorter, 

 rounded; column slightly spreading at the summit, 

 shorter than the lip; capsule ellipsoid, nearly i' long, 

 the fruiting pedicels 4"-5" long. 



In rich woods, North Carolina to Kentucky, Missouri, 

 Florida, Mississippi and Texas. Aug. 



Sub-class I. DlCOTYLEDONES. 



Embryo of the seed with two cotyledons (in a few genera one only, as in 

 Cyclamen, Pingiiicula and some species of Ranunculaceae and Capnoides), the 

 first leaves of the germinating plantlet opposite. Stem exogenous, of pith, wood 

 and bark (endogenous in structure in Nymphaeaceae), the wood in one or more 

 layers surrounding the pith, traversed by medullary rays and covered by the bark. 

 Leaves usually pinnately or palmately veined, the veinlets forming a network. 

 Parts of the flower rarely in 3's or 6's. 



Dicotyledonous plants are first definitely known in Cretaceous time. They constitute between 

 two-thirds and three-fourths of the living angiospermous flora. 



Series i. Choripetalae. 



Petals separate and distinct from each other, or wanting. 



The series is also known as Archichlamideae, and comprises most of the families formerly 

 grouped under Apetalae (without petals) and Polypetalae (with separate petals). Exceptions to 

 the typical feature of separate petals are found in the Leguminosae, in which the two lower petals 

 are more or less united ; in the Fumariaceae, where the two inner petals or all four of them are 

 sometimes coherent ; the Polygalaceae, in which the three petals are united with each other, and 

 with the stamens; Oxalis in Geraniaceae ; and Ilicaceae, whose petals are sometimes joined at 

 the base. 



Family i. SAURURACEAE Lindl. Nat. Syst. Ed. 2, 184. 1836. 



LIZARD'S-TAIL FAMILY. 



Perennial herbs with broad entire alternate petioled leaves, and small perfect 

 incomplete bracteolate flowers, in peduncled spikes. Perianth none. Stamens 

 6-8, or sometimes fewer, hypogynous ; anthers 2-celled, the sacs longitudinally 

 dehiscent. Ovary 3-4-carpelled, the carpels distinct or united, i-2-ovuled ; ovules 

 orthotropous. Fruit capsular or berry-like, composed of 3-4 mostly indehiscent 

 carpels. Seeds globose or ovoid, the testa membranaceous. Endosperm copious, 

 mealy. Embryo minute, cordate, borne in a small sac near the end of the 

 endosperm. 



Three genera and 4 species, natives of North America and Asia. The family differs from the 

 Piperaceae in having more than one carpel to the ovary. It is represented in North America by the 

 following and by Anenwpsis, occurring in California and Arizona. 



i. SAURURUS L. Sp. PI. 341. 1753. 



Marsh herbs, with slender rootstocks, jointed stems and cordate leaves, their petioles 

 sheathing the stem at the nodes, and small white flowers, in i or 2 dense elongated spikes 

 opposite the leaves. Bractlets adnate to the flowers or to their minute pedicels. Stamens 

 6^8. Filaments filiform, distinct. Carpels united at the base. Styles as many as the car- 



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