ORCHID FAMILY. Orchidacex. 



between the stem and leaf. 3-8 inches high. In rich 

 woods, from R. I. to Fla., Wis., and Kan. 



. Distinguished by its circle of five light 



verticiUata green leaves at the summit of the stem. 

 Purple and Flower dull purple with long stem and 

 green=yellow long narrow greenish sepals, erect or in- 

 May-June clining above the circle of leaves. 8-12 

 inches high. Moist woods. Me., south, west to Ind. 

 and Wis. Rare in the east. Found in Middlesex Co. , 

 Mass. (Miss M. P. Cook.) See Appendix. 

 Showy Orchis This, with another more northern spe- 

 Orchis c i eSj i s our only true orchis. There are 



:? ed two light shiny leaves proceeding from 



and white ^ e base of the stem ; the latter is thick 

 May-June and angular in section, bearing at its sum- 

 mit a few showy flowers with magenta sepals and petals 

 united in a hood, and beneath them the conspicuous, al- ' 

 most white lip ; behind the lip is the rather long spur, 

 in which is secreted an abundant supply of nectar for 

 the thirsty, visiting insect ; the latter, generally a queen 

 bumblebee (Bombus Americanorum is a common visi- 

 tor), thrusts its head into the spur, brushing carelessly 

 past the rostellum at the top of the column, and, ruptur- 

 ing its thin membrane, exposes the two sticky round 

 discs attached to the pear-shaped pollen-clusters. These 

 discs immediately fasten upon the bee's face or forehead, 

 and when the creature retires it carries with it discs and 

 pollen-clusters. Finally when the next flower is visited 

 the pollen is scraped off upon its sticky stigma. Orchis 

 spectabilis is 5-10 inches high, and frequents rich moist 

 woods, especially hemlock groves, from Me., south to 

 Ga. , and west to Minn, and Neb. It is found in the val- 

 ley of the Connecticut west of the White Mts. The name 

 is Latin, meaning a plant with oblong roots. (Pliny.) 



Orchis rotundifolia is a less common 

 rotundifolia species with but one leaf, oval or nearly 

 Magenta round, and smaller flowers about the same 



and white color but deeper than those of O. spec- 



June-July taUlis. From northern Me. and Vt. f 

 westward. Flower lip white magenta-spotted. 



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