ORCHID FAMILY. Orchidacese. 



A common species remarkable for its 

 Fringed lacerated three-parted flower-lip, and un- 



Orchis substantial translucent white which is 



Habenaria sometimes greenish and sometimes yel- 

 ^fr c lowish. Leaves lance-shaped, smaller 



greenish above. The long flower-spike crowded 



June-July with the inconspicuous deep-spurred flow- 

 ers. The pollen-cells are not widely sepa- 

 rated. Wm. Hamilton Gibson describes the structure of 

 the flower thus, after remarking that no botanist has men- 

 tioned its distinct peculiarity. * ' The nectary instead of 

 being freely open is abruptly closed at the central portion 

 by a firm protuberance or palate which projects down- 

 ward from the base of the stigma, and closely meets the 

 lip below." The opening is thus divided into two lateral 

 ones, each lying directly beneath a sticky elongated 

 pollen-disc. Thus the insect, generally a butterfly, in- 

 serts its tongue exactly where the latter will touch the 

 disc which is sure to clasp it and be withdrawn together 

 with the pollen. H. lacera is 10-22 inches high, and is 

 found in bogs and wet woods from Me. , south to Ga. , 

 and west to Minn, and Mo. 



In appearance this white orchis is distinctly different 

 from all others. Although its similarity to the next 

 species is marked, it is structural and therefore not so 

 evident to a casual observer. The flower is well named j 

 its lacerated flower-lip is literally torn to divisions of 

 threadlike fineness, and the general effect is accordingly 

 unique. No other orchis is like it ; the flower of H. 

 psycodes has a compact settled figure ; that of H. clavel 

 lata is distinct and has a swirling appearance due to the 

 curving spur, while that of H. blephariglottis is a char- 

 acteristically fringed affair of orderly appearance. But 

 this orchis is a thing of " shreds and tatters." 



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