PLANTS GROWING IN MUD. 65 



species. The lip is not fringed ; but it is cut-toothed in a way 

 that gives it a very stiff, prim expression. In July and August 

 we may expect to find it in bloom. 



WHITE=FRINGED ORCHIS. (Plate XXVI^ 



Habenaria blephariglottis. 



FAMILY COLOUR ODOUR RANGE TIME OF BLOOM 



Orchis. White. Scentless. Northward to Minnesota, and July. 



in New Jersey . 



Flowers : crowded on a short, oblong spike and having slender spurs ; the 

 lower lip heavily fringed. Leaves: alternate ; lanceolate ; passing gradually 

 into bracts ; clasping at the base. 



It seems, sometimes, that we hardly know what to say about 

 a flower. Not because it is uninteresting, but because it is so 

 very lovely that our sensations concerning it are silent. It is 

 so with the white orchis. When found in some cranberry bog 

 or swamp they are generally growing in great profusion. There 

 is a milk-white purity about the blooms, and their swaying fairy 

 fringe makes them very beautiful. 



H. cilidris, or the yellow-fringed orchis (Plate XXVI), is not 

 so frequently found as the white one. It is taller, and of a 

 deep, rich orange in colour. The two resemble each other so 

 closely that there has been a question whether they were not 

 simply different colours of the same species. It is now be- 

 lieved, however, that they are separate species. The yellow 

 one is a little later in reaching the height of its bloom. 



As will be seen from the illustration, the fringe of both of 

 these orchids is wider than the lip it edges. 



flOSS MILKWORT. 



Polygala cruciata. 



FAMILY COLOUR ODOUR RANGE TIME OF BLOOM 



Milkwort. Pink or greenish. Scentless. Maine to Florida August. 



and westward. 



Flowers : small ; growing in close, short spikes at the ends of the branches. 

 Leaves : opposite ; whorled in fours ; linear. Stems : long ; angled ; spreading. 



When a number of these low plants are found growing to- 

 gether, they have a mossy, soft appearance that is very pretty. 



