THE ORCHIDS OF NEW ENGLAND. 



43 



the thick end of the pollinium inwards so that the stem and the 



viscid surface of the disc are no longer parallel as they were at 



first, and as they are represented in the 



section, fig. 9, C. At the same time, the 



drum rotates through nearly a quarter of a 



circle, and this moves the stalk downward 



like the hand of a clock, depressing the 



thick end of the pollinium." A disc once 



affixed to the side of an insect's face, by 



the time another flower on another plant is 



reached, " the pollen-bearing end of the 



pollinium will have moved downward and 



inward and will infallibly strike . 



the broad stigmatic surface between the 



anther-cells. The little rudimentary tail 



projecting beyond the drum-like pedicel 



shows that the disc has been carried a 



little inward, and that originally the two 



discs stood even further in advance of the 



stigma than they do at present." 



Habenaria viridis, var. bract eat a, the 

 Bracted Green Orchis, figures in old bot- 

 anies as Platanthera bracteata. The Euro- 

 pean species, H. viridis, according to Dar- h. viridis, var. bracteata. 

 win, has the viscid under side of each disc " enclosed in a 

 small pouch ; " "this," says Gray, " is not yet verified in ours." 

 Although it is usually assigned to the following month, I gen- 

 erally find the Bracted Green Habenaria blooming with H. 

 Hookeri, and therefore introduce it here. It has the same green- 

 ish-yellow colors, but differs in several respects, such as a leafy 

 stem, bristling bracts, smaller flowers with toothed lip and very 

 short, two-lobed, bag-shaped nectary which, it would seem, almost 

 any insect could rifle. Neither beautiful nor singular, as far as 

 outward appearance goes, it occupies a neutral position, and 



Fig. 10.— Bracted Green 

 Orchis. 



