ORCHIDACE^E 



THE LEAVES: nearly basal; oblong-lanceolate or linear; 

 three inches to fourteen inches long; narrow; sometimes 

 without stems and sometimes distinctly petioled; entire; 

 parallel- veined. 



THE FLOWERS: small, in a spike in two or three spiral or 

 vertical rows; the lip ovate-oblong with its margin waved 

 or ragged as if eaten. 



THE FRUIT: a capsule. 



The second of the Spiranthes group, the cernua, is 

 characterised, in the first place, by its habitat, which is 

 swamps and damp ground, and in the second, by its 

 decided robustness and sturdiness. 



The flowers vary from yellowish white to cream white 

 and are odourless or fragrant, the whiter ones generally 

 the more fragrant. 



ORCHIDACE^E ORCHID FAMILY 



Spiranthes gracilis, (Rigel) Beck. 



White Slender Ladies' Twisted Stalk, 



Cork-screw Plant. 

 August-September 



Spiranthes: for derivation see Beckii. 

 Gracilis: Latin for slender. 



THE PREFERRED HABITAT: dry, sandy soil of the Commons, 

 sometimes in pure sand. 



THE PLANT: from clustered roots, erect; the flower stem 

 eight inches to eighteen inches high, usually without hairs 

 or rarely with short, soft hairs, above slender, bearing 

 small, deciduous bracts. 



THE LEAVES: basal; obovate or tending to lanceolate; one 

 and one half inches to two inches long; blunt or acutish at 

 the apex; petioled; entire; parallel-veined. 



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