

448 ORCHIDACEwE. (ORCHIS FAMILY.) 



5. SPIRANTHES, Richard. LADIES' TEESSES. 



Flower somewhat ringent ; the lateral sepals rather oblique at the base and 

 somewhat decurrent on the ovary, covering the base of the lip ; the upper one 

 cohering with the petals ; all usually erect. Lip oblong, concave and embracing 

 the wingless column below, furnished with 2 callosities next the base, contracted 

 into a short claw below them or sessile, the spreading apex more or less dilated. 

 Column arching, obliquely short-stalked, the ovate stigma usually with a 

 short-pointed and at length 2-cleft beak. Anther attached to the back of the 

 column. Pollen-masses 2, club-shaped or obovate, fixed to the stigma by 

 a gland, deeply 2-cleft from the broader end (and in S. gracilis again 2-cleft) 

 into tender lamellae which are more or less inrolled when young, bearing 

 the powdery pollen-grains. Roots clustered-tuberous. Stems naked, or 

 leafy below. Flowers small, white, bent horizontal, in a close usually spi- 

 rally twisted spike (whence the name, from trnfipa, a, coil or curl, and m/tfos, 

 blossom). 



# Scape naked, barely bracted below : leaves all at or near tJie ground, early disap- 

 pearing : flowers all one-sided. 



1. S. gracilis, Bigelow. Scape very slender (8'- 15' high), smooth, 

 spike slender, so twisted as to throw the flowers as they expand all into a single 

 (straightish or usually spiral) row; bracts ovate, pointed, not longer than the 

 pods, to which they are closely appressed ; lip spatulate-oblong, strongly wavy- 

 crisped at the rounded summit (not lobed), the callosities at the base conspicu- 

 ous, incurved; leaves varying from ovate to oblong-lanceolate, petioled (l'-2 

 long), thin. (Also S. Beckii, Lindl., as to the Northern plant.) Hilly wooda 

 and sandy plains: common. July, Aug. Perianth and lip \' ' long, of a 

 delicate pearly texture : the calli at first oval, bearded at the base inside, at 

 length elongating and recurved. 



* * Scape or stem leafy towards the base : Jlowers not unilateral. 



2. S. latifolia, Torr. in Lindl. Loui (4' -9' high) ; leaves oblony-lanceolate, 

 narrowed into a sheathing base ; spike oblong, rather dense, more or less twist- 

 ed ; bracts lanceolate, acutish, the lower as long as the flowers ; lip oblong, very 

 obtuse, wavy-crisped at the apex, 5-7-nerved below, and with 2 oblong adnate 

 callosities at the base. (S. plantaginea, Torr. in N. Y. Fl., not of Lindl. 8. 

 wtivalis, Oakes, cat.) Moist banks, N. New York, W. New England, and 

 northward; not rare. June. Leaves chiefly towards the base of the stem, 

 2' -4' long and about ' wide, thickish; above are one or two small leaf-like 

 bracts. Flowers white with the lip yellowish, larger than in No. 1, much small- 

 er than in No. 3 ; the sepals minutely glandular-pubescent, as well as the axis 

 of the spike. I find nothing to distinguish it from S. aestivalis except ths.t the 

 flowers are a trifle smaller, and the bracts less acute. 



3. S. cermia, Richard. Root-leaves linear-lanceolate, elongated, those of the 

 stem similar but smaller, passing into bracts ; spike dense, minutely pubescent ; 

 bracts ovate-lanceolate, pointed, as long as the flowers ; lip oblong, furnished 

 <rith two minute callosities at the base, constricted above the middle, rounded at 

 the summit, wavy-crisped. Wet grassy places ; common. Aug. - O'-t. SteiB 



