WHITE AND GREENISH WILD FLOWERS 



and bract-like. The roots are slender and fleshy. 

 The tiny, waxy white or yellowish flowers are fragrant 

 and spurless. And together with short, semi-circular 

 bracts, they are gathered into crowded rows of threes 

 which, with a peculiar, ropy, spiral growth, form a re- 

 markably twisted terminal spike. The two side sepals are 

 free and spreading, while the upper one forms an arch 

 with the petals. The oblong lip has a broad, rounded, 

 crinkle-edged apex. This pretty little Orchid blossoms 

 abundantly from August to October, and ranges 

 from Florida to Nova Scotia, and west to Ontario, 

 Minnesota, South Dakota, New Mexico, and Louisiana. 



DOWNY RATTLESNAKE PLANTAIN 



Epipdctis pubescens. Orchid Family. 



The familiar rosettes of white-veined, blue-green 

 foliage of this common Orchid are spread close to the 

 ground, in dry and usually evergreen woods, where 

 they occur in distinct patches, and are really more 

 decorative than their flowers, which blossom dur- 

 ing July and August. The short flower stalk is cov- 

 ered with thick, hairy down, and rises from the centre 

 of the leaves some six to twenty inches. It bears 

 several small, alternating, and clasping scale-like 

 leaflets. The thick, pointed-oval, evergreen leaves 

 are softly downy, the prominent ribs and veins are 

 white, and the edges are wavy. The thick, fleshy root 

 is creeping in habit. The small, pouched, greenish 

 white flowers are crowded into a slender, terminal, 

 clubbed spike, and are attended with short, pointed, 



216 



