Appendix 269 



3.— LISTERA CORDATA (Liunseus) R. Brown, 1753-1813. 



Heart-Leaved Twayblade 



The specific name, cordata, refers to the cordate or heart- 

 shaped leaves. 



Small, moist woodland orchid, with fibrous roots. June 27th- 

 July 3oth-August 8th. 



Flowers minute, purplish, in a loose raceme, >^-2 inches 

 long, 4-20 flowered, pedicels bracted, ^ inch long. Labellum 

 2-cleft, narrow, with a tooth on each side at the base. Sepals 

 and petals oblong-linear. Stem slender, 3-10 inches high. 

 Leaves 2, heart-shaped, or cordate %-i inch long. 



Continental Ratige — From Alaska, southward to Sierra Ne- 

 vada Mountains in the Pacific region ; and New Jersey, and 

 Pennsylvania, in the Atlantic region. It appears to be more 

 of a northern plant than L. convallarioides. 



New England Ra7tge—M.2\n&y common ; New Hampshire, 

 common ; Vermont, common ; Massachusetts, infrequent ; 

 Rhode Island, rare ; Connecticut, rare. 



VIII 



Peramixim 



Salisbury, 181 2 



(Goodyera R. Brown, 1813) 



Rattlesnake Plantain 



The origin of the generic name, Peramium, is not given in 

 the original description. It may come from Atnmon, Amen, 

 the Egyptian Sun-God of Life, since to the blotched leaves of 

 this genus the Indians attribute great powers, as a remedy 

 against the deadly amniotic poison received from the rattle- 

 snake's bite. 



Orchids with erect bracted scapes, and fleshy-fibrous roots. 

 Anther I. Labellum concave, or sessile roundish-ovate. Lower 

 sepals free, upper one united with petals into a galea. Flowers 

 in densely-flowered, or i-sided bracted spikes. Anther erect, 

 attached to column, without a lid. PoUinia 2, i in each 

 anther-sac, composed of angular grains attached to small disk, 

 cohering with top of stigma. Stems or scapes bracted, 5-20 

 inches high. Leaves several, basal, blotched, with beautiful 

 network of white, green or yellow, resembling a snake's skin. 

 Seed-capsule erect, nearly always maturing. Seedlings abiin- 

 dant in conifer shades. 



