YELLOW AND ORANGE WILD FLOWERS 



principal character of the blossom is the very long, 

 slender spur which hangs from under the drooping 

 spreading lip, and the usual variously cut and fringed 

 design of the latter. The Yellow Fringed Orchis ranges 

 from New England to Ontario and Michigan, and 

 south to the Gulf States. 



RAGGED ORCHIS 



Habenaria lacera. Orchid Family. 



The greenish yellow flowers of the Ragged Orchis 

 are "all tattered and torn," like the man in the nur- 

 sery rhyme 



" That kissed the maiden all forlorn, 

 That milked the cow with the crumpled horn." 



It is a common and inconspicuous Orchid, differing 

 distinctly from all others by its remarkable fringed 

 lip, which is so fantastically slit and slashed that it 

 is comparatively difficult to describe. The rather 

 slender, round, smooth stalk grows one or two feet 

 high, and bears several firm, alternating, lance-shaped, 

 yellow-green leaves, which become very much smaller 

 and bract-like as they approach the top. The numer- 

 ous flowers are gathered into a loose, terminal, misty 

 green or feathery spike. The sepals are pointed oval, 

 and the upper one is a little the broadest. The petals 

 are oblong, and the long lip is divided into three 

 spreading parts, each of which is hopelessly cut into 

 an irregular thread-like fringe. The curving spur 

 is very long and slender. The Ragged Orchis blos- 

 soms during June and July, in bogs, swamps, and wet 



no 



