SPIRANTHES 



SPRAYING 



1707 



perate zone and extending south to Chile, all terrestrial 

 herbs, few of which have any horticultural value. Some 

 of the hardy species are advertised by dealers in native 

 plants and by collectors. Erect herbs with fleshy or tu- 

 berous roots: Ivs. mostly at the base or on the lower 

 part of the stem: raceme terminal, twisted: fls. spur- 

 less, small or medium-sized; sepals free or more or less 

 united at the top, or united with the petals into a hel- 

 met ; labellum sessile or clawed, concave, embracing; 

 the column and spreading into a crisped, sometimes 

 lobed or toothed blade: pollinia 2, powdery. 



A. Color of fls. scarlet. 



colorata, N. E. Br. (S. colbrans, Hemsl.). Lvs. ellip- 

 tic to elliptic-oblong, undulate, acute, 5-6 in. long: stem 

 2 ft. high: spike 3 in. long: Hs. and longer bracts scar- 

 let. April. Mexico. B.M. 1374 (as Neottia speciosa). 



AA. Color of fls. white or ivhitixh. 

 B. Fls. in 3 rows: h-s. persistent at the flowering time. 



cernua, Rich. NODDING LADIES' TRESSES. Lvs. 

 mostly basal, linear or linear -oblanceolate: stem 6-25 

 in. high, usually pubescent above, with 2-6 acuminate 

 bracts : fls. white or yellowish, fragrant, nodding or 

 spreading, in a spike 4-5 in. long; lateral sepals free, 

 the upper arching and connivent with the petals ; label- 

 lum oblong, rounded at the apex, crisp. Aug. -Oct. 

 Nova Scotia to Minn, and south to Fla. B.M. 1568 (as 

 Neottia cernua); 5277. B.R. 10:823. B.B. 1:471. A.G. 

 13:467. V. 11:13. 



Romanzoffiana, Cham. & Schlecht. Lvs. linear to 

 linear-oblanceolate, 3-8 in. long: stem 6-15 in. high, 

 leafy below: spike 2-4 in. long: fls. white or greenish, 

 ringent; sepals and petals broad at base, connivent into 

 a hood; labellum oblong, broad at the base, contracted 

 below and dilated at the apex, crisp. July, Aug. N. 

 Araer. B.B. 1:470. G.C. II. 16:465; 26:400. 



latifolia, Torr. Stem 4-10 in. high, glabrous or pu- 

 bescent, bearing 45 lanceolate or oblanceolate Ivs. near 

 the base: fls. small; sepals and petals white, lateral 

 sepals free, narrowly lanceolate, the upper one some- 

 what united with the petals ; labellum quadrate-oblong, 

 yellowish above, not contracted in the middle, wavy- 

 crisp, obtuse or truncate. June-Aug. New Brunswick 

 to Minn, and Va. B.B. 1:470. 



BB. Fls. alternate, appearing in a single spiral row. 



C. Lvs. present at the flowering time. 

 praecox, Watson (S. graminea, var. Wdlteri, Gray). 

 Lvs. linear, 4-12 in. long, grass-like: stem 10-30 in. 

 high, glandular-pubescent above, leafy: spike 2-8 in. 

 long: fls. white or yellowish, spreading; lateral sepals 

 free, the upper one connivent with the petal, labellum 

 oblong, contracted above and dilated toward the apex. 

 July, Aug. N. Y. to Fla. and La. B.B. 1:471. 



cc. Lvs. mostly withered at the flowering time. 



simplex, Gray. Root a solitary oblong tuber: Ivs. 

 basal, ovate to oblong, short, absent at the flowering 

 time: stem very slender, 5-9 in. high: spike about 1 in. 

 long: fls. white: labellum obovate-oblong, eroded and 

 crisp. Aug., Sept. Mass, to Md. B.B. 1:472. A.G. 13:466. 



gracilis, Beck. Roots clustered: Ivs. basal, obovate 

 to ovate-lanceolate, petioled, mostly dying before the 

 flowering time: stem 8-18 in. high, bearing a slender, 

 many-fld., 1-sided or twisted spike: fls. white, fragrant; 

 sepals longer than the labellum, the lateral ones free; 

 labellum oblong, dilated in front, crenulate or wavy- 

 crisp, thick and green in the middle. Aug.-Oct. East- 

 ern N. Amer. B.B. 1:472. A.G. 13:466. 



HEINRICH HASSELBRING. 



SPIRODELA. Consult Lemna. 



8PLEENWOBT. Asplenium. 



SP6NDIAS. See page 1864. 



SPONGE TREE. Acacia Farnesiana. S., Vegeta- 

 ble. Luffa. 



8PRAGUEA (after Isaac Sprague, of Cambridge, 

 Mass., botanical artist, collaborator of Asa Gray). 

 Portulacacece. Probably only a single species, a bien- 



nial herb 2-12 in. high, with mostly radical, spatulate, 

 fleshy leaves and ephemeral flowers in dense, scorpioid 

 spikes, umbellately clustered on scape-like peduncles: 

 sepals 2; petals 4; stamens 3: capsule 2-valved; seeds 

 8-10, black, shiny. 



umbellata, Torr. May be treated as an annual. Fls. 

 white, tinged with rose, in late summer. Sierra Nevada, 

 at 3,000-10,000 ft. altitude, from the Yosemite valley to 

 the British boundary, usually in sandy dry soils. B.M. 

 5143. Var. caudicifera, Gray, is a subalpine form in 

 which the caudex-like branches extend for a year or 

 more (the leaves below dying away) and are at length 

 terminated by scapes an inch or so in length. De- 

 sirable for rockwork and edgings. Y. W. BARCLAY. 



SPRAYING (see Pomology ) , the art of protecting cul- 

 tivated plants from insect enemies and vegetable para- 

 sites by covering them with a spray which shall have a 

 toxic or physically injurious effect upon the animal or 

 vegetable organism. 



Historical Sketch. The history of spraying is inter- 

 esting. The story of its progress in America differs in 

 details from the history of its development in Europe. 

 The main features in each country are quite similar. 

 In both places insect enemies made the first draft on 

 the ingenuity of man in devising methods by which to 

 hold them in check. Vegetable parasites were studied 

 afterwards. It is a curious fact that, in the case of both 

 insects and fungi, in America, some of the most inju- 

 rious forms came from Europe and were the means of 

 directing attention to wholesale methods of destroying 

 them. Some of these enemies, comparatively harmless 

 in their native home, like the currant worm and codlin- 

 moth, have done more to forward spraying methods in 

 the United States than anything else. 



The flrst insecticides used in America, as well as in 

 Europe, were not of a poisonous nature. They were 

 substances which had an injurious effect on the body 

 of the insect. These were of two kinds mainly: in- 

 fusions which were astringent, and caustic substances 

 which burned the tissues. Tobacco water and alka- 

 line washes have been used for many years. One 

 of the flrst poisons to be used was white hellebore. 

 The employment of arsenical poisons may be said to 

 belong to America, and even at the present time has small 

 place in the economy of fruit - growing in Europe. 

 The widespread use of arsenical poisons is largely due 

 to the influence of the incursion of the potato bug. We 



3370. Apple cluster ready for the spray. 



The blossoms have not yet opened. 



have no reliable records which give us the exact 

 date of the flrst use of Paris green. It probably oc- 

 curred about 1865 or 1866. However, towards 1870 Paris 

 green was used quite generally throughout the western 

 region where the potato bug flrst appeared. At this 

 time it was applied almost exclusively in the dry form 

 diluted with gypsum or flour. From potato to cotton, 

 tobacco and finally to fruit trees, is the development 

 of this poison for destroying leaf-eating insects. So 

 far as records are available, it appears that fruit trees 

 were flrst sprayed with Paris green between 1873 and 

 1875. Among pioneer sprayers, we should mention the 

 names of Dr. C. V. Riley, United States entomologist; 



