IRIDACE^— ORCHIDACEiE 307 



4. FKEfiSIA. Freesia. 



Small cormous plants with flat leaves: flowers white or yellowish, tubu- 

 lar, with a somewhat spreading limb, the tube generally curved: stem about 

 1 ft. high, bearing several erect flowers on a sidewise cluster. Popular 

 florists' plants of easy culture and quick growth. 



F. refrdcta, Klatt. Fig. 439. Leaves narrow: flower usually somewhat 

 2-lipped or irregular, white in the most popular forms but yellowish in some, 

 often with blotches of yellow; fragrant. Cape of Good Hope. 



5 GLADIOLUS. Gladiolus. 



Tall, erect plants, with flat, strong-veined leaves, the stem " 

 arising from a conn (Fig. 50) : flowers in a more or less l-sidet 

 terminal spike, short-tubed, the limb flaring and somewhat 

 unequal: stamens separate (united in some related genera): 440. Gladiolus 

 style long, with three large stigmas. ' Gandavensis. 



G. Gandav6nsis, Van Houtte. Fig. 440. Upper segments of the peri- 

 anth nearly horizontal: colors various and bright: spikes long. Hybrid of 

 two or more species from the Cape of Good Hope. Summer and fall. The 

 common gladioli of gardens are greatly hybridized. 



Vlir. ORCHID ACE.5]. Orchid Fa.mily. 



Perennial herbs, distinguished by singular and extremely irregu- 

 lar perfect flowers, among the most ornamental and interesting of 

 native and exotic plants, curiously adapted, in most cases, to insect 

 pollination; many air-plants (epiphytes) of the tropics and warmer 

 regions also belong to this family. Leaves usually alternate, simple, 

 entire, sheathing: perianth in 6 divisions, adnate to the 1 -celled 

 ovary: sepals 3, the outer segments of the perianth usually colored 

 and similar or nearly so, appearing petal-like, the 2 lateral petals 

 generally alike; third petal, the lip (the upper petal and, morpho- 

 logically, next to axis, but apparently next to bract, by a peculiar 

 twisting of the ovary), very unlike the others, usually larger and 

 frequently lobed, spurred, or saccate: stamens one or two fertile, 

 variously conherent with the style or with a thick, fleshy stigma, all 

 together forming the column : pollen in waxy or powdery masses : ovary 

 inferior. About 5,000 species and over 400 genera, of wide distri- 

 bution but most abundant in the tropics; species rather difficult to 

 determine, and therefore not described here in detail. Ours usually 

 found in cool, damp woods, bogs, and meadows. Some of the rarest 

 of greenhouse plants, and often very difficult to grow, are members of 

 this family. 



