94 



THE ORCHIDS OF NEW ENGLAND. 



lege contains a singular form, supposed to be intermediate 

 between this and the Smaller Purple Fringed-Orchis, which 

 has the middle division of the lip merely toothed like the 

 petals. Gray describes the spike or raceme of H. jimbriata, as 

 " oblong," that of H. psycodes as " cylindrical ; " the petals of 

 the former as " denticulate (or toothed) above," the petals of 

 the latter as " toothed down the sides." 



Thoreau, who found both these Fringed Orchises in Northern 

 Maine, grumbled loudly because they were so abundant where 

 only moose and moose-hunters could see them, and so rare in 

 Concord. Meehan says of H. fimbriata, that it is most com- 

 mon on hilly ground (another point of difference between it 

 and the other species), that it ranges from New England to 

 Michigan and Southern Ohio, and that England produces 

 species " but little different in appearance," some of them 

 known in old literature as Dead Men's Fingers, Dead Men's 

 Thumbs, and Long Purples (O. morio); two of these names 

 occurring in Hamlet in the passage where the queen describes 

 the manner of Ophelia's death. 



" In the stem growth," the same writer says, " there has 

 been a gradual elongation, but we see that it takes but three 

 leaves to make a full circle round the stem. We do not notice 

 indications of the spiral growth which takes these leaves round 

 the stem, but it is there. It is the more sudden twisting and 

 arresting of the elongating growth that make the set of 3 sepals 

 and 3 petals. These lengthenings and twistings do not go on 

 with regular intensity, but as in waves, sometimes fast and 

 sometimes slow. If we watch the growth of the flower we 

 shall find that it first makes a slow elongating growth, and that 

 the twisting comes on suddenly, usually taking but a few hours 

 to make a half turn." 



" The two side divisions of the lip," says Gray, " aid in 

 hindering approach " from those directions, " while the middle 

 division offers a convenient landing-place in front. The con_ 



