HARPER'S GUIDE TO WILD FLOWERS 



toothed, varying in size. The lip is fan-shaped, 3 -divided, all 

 its parts being deeply fringed. Spur, thread-like, thicker above. 

 The delicate blossoms are fragrant, arranged in a dense spike, 6 

 inches or less long, terminating a slender stem 1 to 3 feet high. 

 Leaves, the lower, oval or elliptical, quite large, parallel-veined, 

 passing upward into bracts which underlie the flowers in the 

 raceme. July and August. 



In wet woods or swamps, where its fleshy, spreading, 

 tuberous roots can find plenty of water. New England to 

 South Carolina and westward. The specific name means 

 a butterfly, referring to the light, poised appearance of the 

 flower of this beautiful orchid. 



Rose Pogonia. Snake's, or Adder's Mouth 



Pogonia ophioglossoides. — Family, Orchis. Color, pale or deep 

 crimson; rarely white. Sepals and petals nearly equal in size 

 and shape. Lip, flat, drawn downward, much crested, yellow- 

 fringed. Leaves, 1, rarely 2 or 3, long, near the middle of the 

 stem, with a bract just below the, usually, single flower. June 

 and July. 



6 to 9 inches high. Newfoundland to Minnesota, south- 

 ward to Florida. Fragrant, not unpleasantly so; but Tho- 

 reau says of it that it has a "strong, snaky odor." He 

 evidently did not like this orchid, for he says that " it 

 smells exactly like a snake. How singular, that in Nature, 

 too, beauty and offensiveness should be thus combined!" 

 He also says that such flowers as the pogonia and calopogon 

 "would blush still deeper if they knew what names man 

 had given them." To my mind this is a very pretty bog- 

 orchid. 



Nodding Pogonia 



P. trianthophora. — Color, pink or pale purple. Flowers, 1 to 7, 

 on peduncles which spring from the small leaves, at first erect, 

 then drooping. Lip, without spur, as in all of the pogonias, 

 3-lobed, raised on a claw, roughish on the surface. Leaves, sev- 

 eral, ovate, pointed, alternate, sessile or clasping. July and 

 August. 



In this small orchid, 3 to 8 inches high, 3 or 4 upper 

 leaves stand under bright flowers, which hang and nod on 

 long, slender pedicels. Flower £ inch long. Rare in New 

 England. Range from Canada to North Carolina, westward 

 to Alabama. 



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