HARPER'S GUIDE TO WILD FLOWERS 



Swamps and wet woods, west to Minnesota and south to 

 Georgia. 



"The most beautiful of the genus." All the sepals and 

 petals are white, except for the blush on the front of the 

 broad, inflated, not twisted lip. Stem, downy, 2 feet high, 

 from fibrous roots. It is not easy to find, being a shy thing, 

 and hiding its beauty in peat-swamps, where, however, if 

 once discovered, it may be seen to grow in numbers. 



White Fringed Orchis 



Habenaria blephariglottis. — Family, Orchis. Color, white. Leaves, 

 the lower ones lance-shaped, quite long ; the upper, bract-like. July. 



A beautiful milk-white orchid. The lip is variously cut 

 and fringed, giving the whole spike of flowers a soft, lace- 

 like appearance. The stem, smooth, with bracts rather 

 than leaves above the middle, grows from 12 to 15 inches 

 tall. The pure color of the heads of flowers makes them at 

 once conspicuous in the swamps, cranberry marshes, etc., 

 where they grow, often in great profusion. (See illustration, 

 P- 5*0 



H. dila.ta.ta. — This species has white, delicate flowers in a 

 raceme. Lip, narrow and pointed, not fringed, hanging over a 

 spur nearly as long. Leaves, on the stem, long, narrow. Stem, 

 1 to 2 feet high. May to August. 



Wet woods and swamps, northward, as far south as New 

 Jersey. 



Ladies' Tresses 



Spiranthes gracilis. — Family, Orchis. Color, mainly white, 

 but the lip is green, margined with white. Sepals, rather longer 

 than the spreading, wavy, and crisp-margined lip. Flowers, 

 small, in slender, twisted spikes, fragrant. Stem, simple, from 

 8 to 20 inches tall, smooth, with bracts below and among the 

 flowers, from a cluster of long, tuberous roots. Leaves near the 

 base of the simple stem, short-petioled, ovate to lance-shaped, 

 generally perishing before the flowers appear. July to September. 



Dry ground or on hillsides. Nova Scotia to Florida and 

 westward. 



S. Beckii. — This species, smaller than the last, has a smooth 

 and very slender low stem, from 5 to 9 inches tall, and a few 

 small flowers in a terminal short spike. Leaves, from the base of 

 the stem, ovate, narrowed into a short petiole, perishing before 



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