MISCELLANEOUS 



and thickets of low ground. The plant is a climber, bearing 

 edible pear-shaped tubers on underground shoots, which give it 

 its generic name signifying a pear. 



CORAL-ROOT. 



Corallorhiza multijlora. Orchis Family (p. 17). 



Rootstock. Much branched, coral-like, toothed. Stem. Nine to eigh- 

 teen inches high, without green foliage. Flowers. Rather small, dull 

 brownish-purple or yellowish, sometimes mottled with red ; growing in a 

 raceme. 



In the dry summer woods one frequently encounters the dull 

 racemes of this rather inconspicuous little plant. It is often 

 found in the immediate neighborhood of the Indian pipe and 

 pine sap. Being, like them, without green foliage, it might be 

 taken for an allied species by the casual observer. This is one 

 of those orchids which are popularly considered unworthy to 

 bear the name, giving rise to so much incredulity or disappoint- 

 ment in the unbotanical. 



285 



