442 BURMANNIACEJE. (BURMANNIA FAMILY.) 



long), obscurely serrulate, obtuse, somewhat nerved and netted- veined. Com- 

 mon in slow rivers, &c. August. (Eu.) 



ORDER 118. BURMANJVIACE^E. (BURMANNIA FAMILY.) 



S?nall annual herbs, often uith minute and scale-like leaves, or those of the 

 root grass-Wee ; the flowers perfect, with a Q-cleft corolla-like perianth, the 

 tube of which adheres to the l-celled or 3-celled ovary; stamens 3 and dis- 

 tinct, opposite the inner divisions of the perianth ; pod many-seeded, the seeds 

 very minute. A small chiefly tropical family, of which only one plant is 

 found within our borders. 



1. BURMANNIA, L. (TRIPTERELLA, Michx.) 



Ovary 3-cclled, with the thick placentas in the axis. Filaments 3, very short. 

 Style slender: stigma capitate-3-lobcd. Pod often 3-wingcd. (Named for 

 J. Burmann, an early Dutch botanist.) 



1. B. biflora, L. Stem low and slender (2' -4' high), 2-flowered at the 

 summit, or soon several-flowered ; perianth (2" -3" long) bright blue, 3-winged. 

 (Tripterella carulea, MicJix.) Peaty bogs, Virginia and southward. 



ORDER 119. ORCHIDACE^E. (ORCHIS FAMILY.) 



Herbs, distinguished by their irregular floioers, 6-merous perianth adherent 

 tG the l-celled ovary with 3 parietal placenta?, gynandrous stamens (only 1 or 

 2), and pollen cohering in waxy or mealy masses. Fruit a l-celled 3-valved 

 pod, with innumerable minute seeds, appearing like fine saw-dust. Peri- 

 anth of 6 divisions in 2 sets ; the 3 outer (sepals) of the same petal-like 

 texture and appearance as the 3 inner (petals}, of which the upper or pos- 

 terior one, but by the twisting of the ovary or stalk commonly appearing 

 the lower or anterior, differs more or less in shape or direction from the 

 others, is often spurred or appendaged, and is called the Up. Opposite 

 this, in the axis of the flower, is the column, which is composed of a single 

 stamen (or in Cypripedium of 2 fertile stamens) entirely coherent and 

 confluent with the style, on which the 2-celled anther is variously situated. 

 Perennial herbs, often tuber-bearing, or with tuberous or thickened 

 roots. Leaves parallel-nerved. Flowers commonly showy and singular 

 in shape, either spiked, racemed, or solitary, bracted. A large family, but 

 sparingly represented in the United States. 



Synopsis. 



I. Anther only one. 



TBTBB I. OPHRYDEJE. ADther (of 2 separate cells) entirely a.lnate to the face of the 

 etigma, erect. Pollen cohering into a great number of coar.e ^r.-iins. which are all fast- 

 ened by elastic and cobwebby tissue into one large mass, with a stalk that connects il 

 with a f^U'd of the stigma. (Flower riugeut, the lip with a spur beneath.) 



