458 ERICACE^. Pterospora. 



15. PTEROSPORA. Nutt. gen. 1. p. 269 ; Lindl. coll. hot. no. 5. t. 5. 



GIANT BIRD'S-NEST. 



[ From the Greek, pleron, a wing, and spora, a seed.] 



Calyx 5-parted. Corolla monopetalous, ovate ; the border 5-toothed and reflexed. Stamens 

 10, included : filaments subulate : anthers roundish, horizontal, 2-celled, with two bristles 

 at the base. Style short, terete : stigma capitate, 5-lobed ; the lobes connivent. Capsule 

 depressed-globose, 5-celled. Seeds very numerous and minute, with a large terminal 

 reticulated wing. — A plant with the habit of Monotropa, with the numerous flowers in 

 long racemes : pedicels slender, recurved. 



1. Pterospora Andromedea, Nutt. Giant Bird's-nest. 



Nutt. I. c. ; Torr. fl. \. p. 429 ; Lindl. I. c. ; Beck, hot. p. 228 ; Hook. fl. Bor.-Am. 2. 

 p. 48 ; DC. prodr. 7. p. 779. Monotropa procera, Torr. in Eat. man. hot. (ed. 2. 1818), 

 p. 324. 



Root roundish, very astringent, consisting of dark matted coralloid fibres. Every part of 

 the plant, except the corolla, covered with brownish viscid hairs. Stem 8 inches to 2 feet or 

 more in height, straight, simple, grooved, brownish red or purplish ; the base clothed with 

 imbricated lanceolate scales. Raceme bearing 20 - 50 or more flowers. Pedicels about half 

 an inch long, scattered, sometimes fascicled, with a rather long linear bract at the base. 

 Flower about one-third of an inch in diameter. Calyx about half the length of the corolla : 

 segments oblong, glandularly ciliate. Corolla about one-fourth of an inch long, somewhat 

 urceolate ; the segments of the orifice oblong, retuse, rose-red ; the rest of the corolla white. 

 Stamens included : filaments flat, smooth, without intermediate tooth-like processes at the 

 base : anthers small, fixed by one side, with two subulate reflexed processes at the base ; the 

 cells closely united, opening by a transverse chink. Ovary depressed, obscurely 5-angled : 

 style short, but distinct : stigma large, divided into five acute connivent lobes. Capsule 

 membranaceous, with a deep funnel-shaped cavity at the top ; the valves not separating from 

 the axis. Seeds globose-ovoid, sulcate, with a broad roundish reticulated and transparent 

 wing or crest at the upper extremity. 



Clayey and limestone soils ; various places in the vicinity of Albany {Dr. E. James, Prof. 

 Eaton, Dr. Wright, Mr. Tracy) ; Banks of Seneca Lake {Dr. Gray) ; near Niagara Falls 

 {Mr. Charles Whitlow) ; Little Falls of the Mohawk {Mr. Cooper) ; Port Henry, on Lake 

 Champlain {Prof. A. Hopkins) ; near Sacket's-Harbor {Dr. Wood) ; Oriskany {Mr. George 

 Vasey) ; shady ravines near Union College, and Schoharie, 4 miles east of the Court House, 

 on a ridge of oak and pines {Dr Knieskern); woods north of Peekskill {Dr. Mead). This 

 singular plant is very rare, except in the States of New- York and Vermont. It has been 

 found in Canada, and west to the sources of the Oregon, but only sparingly. Mr. I. Tracy is 

 confident that it is perennial ; for it flowered after the roots were transplanted into his garden. 

 In some cases it is very difficult to find it connected in any way with the roots of other plants. 



