404 ORCHIS FAMILY. 



species and hybrids in cultivation in choice greenhouses, but 

 only the commonest or most conspicuous wild species are 

 mentioned here. 



• Epiphyte or Air-Plant ORrninfi. Of these a great variety are cultivated in the 



choicest conservatories. We have one genus in the most Southern States. 



1. EPIDENDKUM. The 3 sepals and 2 petals nearly alike and widely spreading ; the odd 



petal or lip larger and 8-lobed, its base united with the style, which bears a lid-like 

 anther, containing 4-stalked pollen masses, over the glutinous stigma. 



♦ • Tekrestrial ORcniiis, growing in the soil, in woods or low grounds, hut sometimes 



leafless and parasitic on roots. 

 *- Anther only one, but of 2 cells, tchich when separated {a.i in Orchis) must not be mis 

 taken for two anthers ; pollen collected into one or more masses in each cell ; 

 stigma a glutinous surface. 



*+ Lip, or odd petal, sac-like and inflated. 



2. CALYPSO. Sepals and petals nearly similar, lanceolate and pointed. Lip larger than 



the other parts (|' long). Lady's t^lipper-liko and hairy inside. Pollen masses 2, 



■waxy, each 2-parted, sessile. Delicate little plant with a 1-flowered scape, and a 



single radical leaf. 

 ++++ Lip neither saccate nor spurred {or spur adnate to the ovary); anther inverted 



on the apex of the style, commonly attached by a sort of hinge; pollen 2 or 4 



separate soft masses, not attached to a stalk or gland. 

 = Flowers mostly small, dull colored, in a spike or raceme on a brownish or yellowish 

 leafless scape ; pollen masses 4, globular, soft-waxy. 



3. A PLECTRUM. Flowers as in the next, but no trace of a spur or sac, larger. Scape 



rising from a large solid bulb or corm, which also produces, at a different season, a 

 broad and many-nerved green leaf. 



4. CORALLOUIIIZA. Flowers \\ith sepals and petals nearly alike ; the lip broader, 2. 



ridged on the face below, from its base descending a short sac or obscure spur which 

 adheres to the upper part of the ovary. Scape with sheaths in place of leaves ; the 

 root or rootstock thickish, much branched and coral-like. 

 ^ = Flowers rather large ; pollen masses soft, of lightly-connected powdery grains. 



5. AKETHUS.\. Flower c.nly one, on a naked scape ; the 3 sepals and 2 petals lanceolate 



■ and nearly alike, all united at the base, ascending and arching over the top of the 

 long and somewhat wing-margined style, on the petal-like top of which rests the 

 helmet-shaped hinged anther, over a little shelf, the lower face of which is the stigma. 

 Lip broad, erect, with a recurving rounded apex and a bearded crest down the face. 

 Pollen masses 4, 2 in each cell of the anther. 



6. CALOPOGON. Flowers 2, 3, or several, in a raceme-like loose spike ; the Hp turned 



towards the axis, diverging widely from the slender (above wing-margined) style, 

 narrower at base, larger and rounded at the apex, strongly bearded along the face. 

 Sepals and the 2 petals nearly alike, lance-ovate, separate and spreading. Anther 

 lid-like ; pollen masses 4. 



7. POGONL\. Flowers one or few terminating a leaf-bearing stem ; the sepals and petals 



separate; lip crested or 3-lobed. Style club-shaped, wingless; stigma lateral. 

 Anther lid-like, somewhat stalked ; pollen masses 2, only 1 in each cell. 

 f+ <_, ++ j,ip not spurred or saccate; anthers borne on the back of the style, below its 

 tip, erect or inclined ; the ovate stigma on the front. Flowers in a spike, small, 

 white. 



8. SPIRANTHES. Flowers oblique on the ovary, all the parts of the perianth erect or 



conniving, the lower part of the lip involute around the style and with a callosity on 

 each side of the base, its narrower tip somewhat recurved and crisped. Pollen masses 

 2 (one to each cell), each 2-parted into a thin plate (composed of grains lightly united 

 by delicate threads), their summits united to the back of a narrow boat-shaped sticky 

 gland get in the beaked tii> over the etigma. Leaves not variegat«d. 



