306 ORCHID ACE M. (OKCHIS FAMILY.) 



15. ORCHIS, L. 



Flower ringent ; the sepals and petals nearly equal. Lip turned downward, 

 coalescing with the base of the column, spurred below. Anther-cells contigu- 

 ous and parallel. Pollen cohering in numerous coarse waxy grains, which are 

 collected on a cobweb-like elastic tissue into 2 large masses (one filling each 

 anther-cell) borne on a slender stalk, the base of which is attached to a gland 

 or sticky disk of the stigma, the two glands contained in a common little pouch 

 or hooded fold, placed just above the orifice of the spur. Flowers showy, in a 

 spike. Our species with low scape-like stems, with 1 or 2 leaves at base, from 

 fleshy-fibrous roots. (Opx is > * ne ancient name.) 



1. O. spectabilis, L. (Snowy ORCHIS.) Root of thick fleshy fibres, pro- 

 ducing 2 oblong -obovate shining leaves (3 - 6' long), and a few-flowered 4 angled 

 scape (4 - 7' high) ; bracts leaf-like, lanceolate ; sepals and petals all lightly 

 united to form the vaulted galea or upper lip, pink-purple, the ovate undivided 

 lip white. Rich woods, N. Brunswick to Ga., west to Minn, and Mo. May. 



2. O. rotundif61ia, Pursh. Stem naked above, l-leaved at base (5-9' 

 high), from a slender creeping rootstock ; leaf varying from almost orbicular 

 to oblong (l|-3' long); flowers rose-purple, the lip white and spotted with 

 purple, 3-lobed, and the larger middle lobe dilated and 2-lobed or strongly 

 notched at the summit (4 -6" long), exceeding the ovate-oblong petals and 

 sepals, and the slender depending spur. (Habenaria rotundifolia, Richard- 

 son.) Damp woods and bogs, N. Maine to Vt., N. Y., Minn., and northward. 



16. HABENARIA, Willd. REIN-ORCHIS. 



Glands or viscid disks (to which the pollen-masses are attached) naked and 

 exposed, separate, sometimes widely so (becoming attached, some to the pro- 

 boscis, others to the face or head of insects feeding upon the nectar of the spur, 

 the pollen thus carried from one blossom to another) ; otherwise nearly as in 

 true Orchis ; the lateral sepals, however, mostly spreading. (Name from habena, 

 a thong or rein, in allusion to the shape of the lip or spur of some species. ) 

 1. GYMNADfeNIA. Cells of the anther parallel and approximate, their 

 glands therefore contiguous. (Appendages of the stigma in our species two 

 or three and much developed, oblong or club-shaped.) 



1. H. trident ata, Hook. Stem slender (6-12' high), with a single ob- 

 long or oblanceolate obtuse leaf below, and 2 or 3 small ones like bracts above : 

 spike 6 - 12-flowered, oblong ; flowers greenish or whitish, very small ; lip wedoe 

 oblong, truncate, and with 3 short teeth at the apex ; the slender and slightly club- 

 shaped spur curved upward, longer than the ovary. Wet woods, N. Eng. to 

 Minn, and Ind., and south in the mountains to N. C. June, July. Root of 

 few fleshy fibres. Appendages of the stigma three, oblong-club-shaped, one 

 outside each orbicular gland and one between them, rising as high as the 

 anther-cell, their cellular viscid summits receiving pollen in the unopened 

 flower, and penetrated by pollen-tubes! 



2. H. Integra, Spreng. Root of very fleshy fibres (or some of them 

 tuber-like) ; stem several-leaved (15' high), the 1 or 2 lower leaves elongated, 

 oblong-lanceolate, acute, the others becoming smaller and bract-like; spike 

 densely many-flowered, oblong-cylindrical ; flowers orange-yellow, small , lip 



