ORCHID ACE^E. (ORCHIS FAMILY.) 497 



tube of which adheres to the 1-celled or 3-celled ovary; stamens 3"and dis- 

 tinct, opposite the inner divisions of the perianth ; capsule many-seeded, the 

 seeds very minute. A small, chiefly tropical family. 



1. BURMANNIA, L. 



Ovary 3-celled, with the thick placentae in the axis. Filaments 3, very short. 

 Style slender ; stigma capitate-3-lobed. Capsule often 3-winged. (Named for 

 J. Burmann, an early Dutch botanist.) 



1. B. biflora, L. Stem low and slender (2-4' high), 2-flowered at the 

 summit, or soon several-flowered ; perianth (2 - 3" long) bright blue, 3-winged. 

 Peaty bogs, Va. to Fla. 



ORDER 110. ORCHIDACEJE. (ORCHIS FAMILY.) 



Herbs, clearly distinguished by their perfect irregular flowers, with 6-merous 

 perianth adnate to the 1-celled ovary, with innumerable ovules on 3 parietal 

 placenta?, and with either one or two gynandrous stamens, the pollen cohering 

 in masses. Fruit a 1-celled 3-valved capsule, with innumerable minute 

 seeds, appearing like fine saw-dust. Perianth of 6 divisions in 2 sets ; the 

 3 outer (sepals) mostly of the same petal-like texture and appearance as 

 the 3 inner (petals). One of the inner set differs more or less in figure, 

 direction, etc., from the rest, and is called the lip ; only the other two tak- 

 ing the name of petals in the following descriptions. The lip is really the 

 upper petal, i. e. the one next to the axis, but by a twist of the ovary of 

 half a turn it is more commonly directed forward and brought next the 

 bract. Before the lip, in the axis of the flower, is the column, composed 

 of a single stamen, or in Cypripedium of two stamens and a rudiment 

 of a third, variously coherent with or borne on the style or thick fleshy 

 stigma ; anther 2-celled ; each cell containing one or more masses of pollen 

 (pollinia) or the pollen granular (in Cypripedium). Stigma a broad glu- 

 tinous surface, except in Cypripedium. Perennials, often tuber-bearing 

 or tuberous-rooted ; some epiphytes. Leaves parallel-nerved, all alternate. 

 Flowers often showy, commonly singular in shape, solitary, racemed, or 

 spiked, each subtended by a bract, in all arranged for fertilization by 

 the aid of insects, very few capable of unaided self-fertilization. 



Tribe I. EPIDENDRE^E. Anther terminal, erect or inclined, operculate. Pollinia 

 smooth and waxy, 4 or 8 (2 or 4 in each cell), distinct, or those in each cell (or all in n. I 

 and 7) united at base. (Pollinia 8 only in n. 7 of our genera.) 



* Green-foliaged plants, from solid bulbs, with 1 or 2 leaves. 

 -- Column very short ; leaf solitary. 



1. Microstylis. Flowers racemose, minute, greenish. Petals filiform. 



H- H- Column elongated ; leaves radical. 

 + Whole plant (except the flowers) green. 



2. Uparis. Leaves 2. Raceme few-flowered. Lip flat, entire. 



3. Calypso. Leaf solitary. Flower large, solitary. Lip saccate. 



H- -H- A single green autumnal leaf ; otherwise mainly brownish or purplish. 



4. Tipularia. Raceme many-flowered ; flowers small, greenish ; lip 3-lobed. 



5. Aplectrum. Raceme loose ; flowers ratfc* large ; lip 3-ridged, not spurred or saccate 



