THE ORCHID FAMILY. 87 



shade of a purple-flowering raspberry. Very dense was its spike of bloom, 

 a little over eight inches long, while the fragrance it exhaled told of its 

 presence. 



The spiral or one-sided arrangement of such small, white flowers is 

 usually a mark distinctive enough to relegate them to this genus. 



G. brevifblia, twisted orchid, {Plate XXIX), blossoms through October 

 and November in the pine barren swamps of western Florida. To the 

 botanist it is interesting from its apparent lack of foliage and the one-sided, 

 regular way in which the small flowers grow, an effect produced by the 

 twisting of the spike. Occasionally near the base is discerned a linear- 

 lanceolate leaf about an inch and a quarter long, or again, as it shortly 

 withers, the stems are destitute of all leafage excepting their close bracts. 



G. gracilis, slender lady's tresses, bears its white flowers also on a much 

 twisted spike which makes them appear one-sided. They are very small, 

 the perianth being hardly more than a quarter of an inch broad. The tiny 

 lip is crisped and slightly marked in the middle with green. The basal 

 leaves are from a half to an inch and a half long, obovate, and at their base 

 taper into petioles. Very early in the season they wither, leaving only the 

 small, also deciduous bracts. According to its location, for the plant has an 

 extended range, it may be found in bloom from April until October. 



G.prcecox, grass-leaved lady's tresses, a slender plant, is known by its 

 fine, linear leaves which grow near the base of its stem, and the bracts above 

 them which are close and scale-like. On the much twisted spikes are many 

 small, white, or yellowish flowers. There is a short claw to the lip which 

 latter organ is crenulate at its summit, and through the centre often striped 

 with a darker colour. In Florida the plant blooms in April while as far 

 northward as New York it delays until July. 



DOWNY RATTLESNAKE PLANTAIN. {Plate AAA.) 

 Pcrdtniuui pubi'scens. 



FAMILY COLOUR ODOUR RANGE TIME OF BLOOM 



Orchid. Greenish white. Scentless. Florida and Tennessee July, August. 



northward to New Foundland. 



Flmvers: growing from all sides of a bracted spike and at the summit of a 

 scape which bears several small leaf-like scales. Lateral sepals : free; ovate; the 

 upper one united with the two petals and forming an ovate galea. Lip : sessile ; sac- 

 like; entire; the tip recurved. Leaves: tufted about the base ; oval or ovate, 

 pointed at the apex and extending into margined petioles; entire; conspicuously 

 veined with white. Seape : six to eighteen inches high; densely pubescent. 



On the faces of these little flowers can be read nothing but thoughts of 

 beauty, and of the modesty of their design ; but with the strange-looking 

 leaves it is different. Their curious blotching and veining with white gives 

 them an uncertain air, and moreover they have for a long time, through 



