CLASS II. MONOCOTYLEDONS 



ORCHIDACE.E 



Perennial herbs with roots often thickened into tubers, entire 

 and parallel-nerved leaves and irregular flowers, solitary or in 

 spikes, racemes, or panicles, each one in the axil of a bract. Peri- 

 anth superior, irregular, with 6 petal-like segments, the 3 outer 

 ones nearly alike, the lower of the 3 inner ones (the lip) usually 

 larger and often spurred. Stamens 1-2. Pollen usually collected 

 into a pollinium. Ovules minute, very numerous. Fruit a 3-valved 

 capsule. 



A very large family of more than 5000 species, spread all over 

 the globe. The tropical ones are mostly epiphytes. 



ORCHIS L 



Root of globose, ovoid, or palmate tubers. Leaves chiefly 

 radical, sheathing. Flowers in spikes. Sepals and petals ascend- 

 ing, connivent, or the lateral sepals spreading. Lip spurred. 



About 1 20 species, inhabiting Europe, temperate Asia, Africa, 

 and America. 



Orchis globosa L. 



Tubers elliptical, undivided. Stem leafy, 8-18 inches high, 

 slender. Leaves linear or linear-lanceolate, bright green. Flowers 

 small, lilac or pink, in a short compact, conical or nearly globular 

 spike. Lip spotted with purple, 3-cleft, the middle lobe rather 

 larger, obtuse, truncate, or emarginate. Spur short, barely half- 

 length of ovary. Bracts as long or longer than the ovary, i-nerved, 

 the lower ones 3-nerved. 



Alpine and sub-alpine pastures ; 4000-7800 feet ; local. May to 



July. 



Distribution. Carpathians, Erzgebirge, Eastern, Central, and 

 Western Alps ; Black Forest, Vosges, Jura ; Pyrenees, Apennines, 

 Balkans, Caucasus. 



Like many of the European Orchids, it prefers a limestone soil. 



Orchis morio L. Green-winged Orchis. (Plate XXXI.) 



Tubers globose, entire. Stem erect, 6 or 8 inches high, with a few 

 narrow lanceolate leaves at the base, and several sheathing scales 



262 



