ORCHIDACEAE. 



7. GYROSTACHYS Pers. Syn. 2: 511. 1807. 

 [SPIRANTHES L. C. Richard, Mem. Mus. Paris, 4: 42. 1818.] 



Erect herbs, with flesh}- -fibrous or tuberous roots and slender stems or scapes, leaf -bear- 

 ing below or at the base. Flowers small, spurless, spiked, i-3-rowed, the spikes more or less 

 twisted. Sepals free, or more or less coherent at the top, or united with petals into a 

 galea. Lip sessile or clawed, concave, erect, embracing the column and often adherent to 

 it, spreading and crisped, or rarely lobed or toothed at the apex, bearing minute callosities at 

 the base. Column arched below, obliquely attached to the top of the ovary. Anther with- 

 out a lid, borne on the back of the column, erect. Stigma ovate, prolonged into an acumi- 

 nate beak, at length bifid, covering the anther and stigmatic only underneath. Pollinia 2, i 

 in each sac, powder}-. Capsule ovoid or oblong, erect, [Greek, referring to the twisted spikes] . 

 About So species, widely distributed in tropical and temperate regions. Besides the following, 

 another occurs in the Southern States and one in California. The flowers are often fragrant. 

 Flowers 3-ranked; stems not twisted, or but slightly so. 



Sepals and petals more or less connivent into a hood. i. G. Romanzoffiana. 



Lateral sepals separate, free. 



Spike short, about 2' long, 4"~5" thick; callosities none, or mere thickenings of the basal 



margins of the lip. 2. G. plantaginea. 



Spike 4' -6' long, 6 -10" thick; callosities nipple-shaped. 



Spike 6" -7" thick; callosities hairy, straight. 3. G. cernua. 



Spike 8"-io" thick; callosities glabrous, incurved. 4. G. odorata. 



Flowers merely alternate, appearing secund from the spiral twisting of the stem. 



Stem leafy; lower leaves elongated, mostly persistent through the flowering season. 



5. G. praecox. 

 Stem a bracted scape; leaves basal, mostly withering before the flowering season. 



Root a single tuber; spike about i' long. 6. G. simplex. 



Root a cluster of tubers; spike i'~3' long. 7. G. gracilis. 



i. Gyrostachys Romanzoffiana (Cham.) 

 MacM. Hooded Ladies' Tresses. (Fig. 1121.) 



Spiranthes Romanzoffiana Cham. Linnaea, 3: 32. 1828. 

 Gyrostachys Romanzoffiana MacM. Met. Minn. 171. 1892. 



Stem 6 / -i5 / high, glabrous, leafy below, bracted 

 above, the inflorescence rarely puberulent. Lower 

 leaves 3 / -8 / long, linear or linear-oblanceolate; spike 

 2 / -4 / long, 4 // -7 // thick; bracts shorter than the 

 flowers; flowers in 3 rows, white or greenish, ringent, 

 3 // -4 // long, spreading horizontally, very fragrant; 

 sepals and petals broad at the base, all more or less 

 connivent into a hood; lip oblong, broad at the base, 

 contracted below the dilated crisped apex, thin, trans- 

 parent, veined; callosities mere thickenings of the 

 basal margins of the lip, or none. 



In bogs, Xova Scotia to Alaska, south to Maine, Penn- 

 sylvania, Minnesota and California. July-Aug. 





2. Gyrostachys plantaginea (Raf.) Britto. 



(Fig. 1 122.) . 



Neottia plantaginea Raf. Am. Month. Mag. 2: 206. 1818. 

 Spiranthes cernua var.? latifolia Torr. Comp. 320. 1826. 

 Spiranthes plantaginea Torr. Fl. N. Y. 2: 284. 1843. 

 5. latifolia Torr.; Lindl. Gen. & Sp. Orch. 467. 1840. 

 Gyrostachys latifolia Kuntze, Rev. Gen. PI. 664. 1891. 



Stem 4 / -io / high, glabrous or pubescent, bracted 

 above, bearing 4 or 5 lanceolate or oblanceolate leaves 

 below. Leaves x'-s' long; spike i'-2' long, 4 // -5 // 

 thick, dense; floral bracts mostly much shorter than the 

 flowers; flowers spreading, about 3" long; petals and 

 sepals white; lateral sepals free, narrowly lanceolate, 

 the upper somewhat united with the petals; lip pale 

 yellow on the face, oblong, not contracted in the mid- 

 dle, the wavy apex rounded, crisped or fringed, the 

 base short-clawed; callosities none, or mere thicken- 

 ings of the lip margins. 



Moist banks and woods. New Brunswick to Minnesota, 

 south to Virginia and Michigan. June-Aug. 



Wide-leaved Ladies' Tresses. 



