86 PLANTS OF BERMUDA. 



Nat: Ord: 69. Orchidacece. 



The plants which form this order are readily distinguished by the 

 peculiar structure of their flowers ; the three outer lobes of the peri- 

 anth (sepals) are nearly equal and coloured ; of the three inner lobes 

 (petals), tiie two upper are regular, while the lower, called the lip, 

 is usually laiger and variously shaped, frequently spurred at the 

 base and causing the flower to assume a resemblance to various in- 

 sects ; the stamens (one or two) are united with the style into a 

 solid column opposite to the lip ; the pollen either coheres into waxy 

 masses or powdery ; ovary twisted. 



This order contains in the West Indies more than two hundred 

 species, many of which attach themselves to the bark of trees and 

 draw the greater part of their nutriment from the air ; in some the 

 flowers are very brilliant and assume grotesque forms. Many of 

 these have been brought to Bermuda at various times and lodged in 

 conservatories at Clarence Hill and elsewhere, but they appear un- 

 able to make themselves at home in these Islands. One species only 

 is found native. 



I. Sl'IHAXTHUS. 



Flowers spirally twisted arottnd the stem ; upper sepal uniting with the 

 petals to form a tube ; lip oblong, embracing and adhering to base of column. 



1 . S. tortilis ? &item slender, erect, one to two feet high ; leaves 

 narrow, six to eight inches long ; stem leaves small, tubular, scale- 

 like ; flowers small, in one row spirally twisted, in a terminal spike 

 two to three inches long. Distribution, West Indies and Southern 

 United States ; habitat, Pembroke marshes ; April and May. 

 Flowers white, one-third of an inch in diameter. 



Nat : Ord : 70. Commelynaceoi. 



Herbaceous plants, with entire sheathing leaves ; perianth in two 

 distinct whorls, each three-leaved, outer small, sepal-like, inner 

 larger, petal-like ; stamens six, some of them usually deformed, in- 

 serted under ovary, the latter superior, two or three celled, cells 

 few-seeded. 



The blue Spider- wort {Tradescaniia Virginiea) and the Oyster 

 plant {T. discolor) are found in gardens, the latter frequently ; its 

 leaves are about a foot long and purple beneath, the clusters of 

 delicate white flowers are contained in half-closed purple cups, 

 which are crowded and compressed between the bases of the leaves. 

 Cganotis discolor, a prostrate plant witli ovate, ribbon-like leaves, 

 purple beneath, is also found in windows and flower-beds. 



I. tOMMELYXA. 



Grass-like plants with slender, water;/ stems; ^/lowers contained in 

 folded, leaf' like bracts ; stamens six, three fertile and three bearing abortive 

 anthers. 



