

CHAPTER THIRTEENTH. 

 THE ORCHIDACEJE. 



EXERCISE LXX. 

 Characters of the Orchidaceae. 



THERE is a widely-distributed and well-known plant, 

 with showy flowers, blossoming in early summer, and 

 called the lady's-slipper, or sometimes the moccasin-flower 

 (Fig. 455). It is an orchid ; and, though unlike other 

 orchids in some respects, it has the chief traits of the 

 order to which it belongs. 



Provide yourself with some of these plants, and com- 

 pare them with the following description : Herbs with 

 parallel-veined leaves and irregular flowers. Perianth of 

 six parts in two sets ; the three outer ones nearly alike, 

 and petaloid in structure and appearance ; the three inner 

 ones unlike. One of these, differing much in shape and 

 direction from the others, is called the lip. In Fig. 455 the 

 lip is the sac or slipper, which gives the plant its common 

 name. The lip varies much in different orchids, but in 

 all its appearance is singular and striking. It is seen 

 spurred and lobed, and assumes many fantastic forms. 



Examine, now, the stamens and pistil of your flower. 

 Lift up the little, drooping organ opposite the lip, and 

 compare the structure beneath with Fig. 456. You have 

 here the stamens and pistil consolidated into one organ, 

 and known as the column. The fertile anthers are shown 

 at a, a, while a sterile stamen back of the stigma is marked 

 Q 



