94 THE ORCHID FAMILY. 



gling among the soft tints of midsummer, they arise as curious individuals 

 ready to pique the interest of the flower seeker. They have all purplish 

 scapes and until late in the season when often they are surrounded by dead 

 leaves they stand erectly; several of them frequently growing together. 

 Among the number which have specific differences are : 



C. odontorhiza, small fiowered coral-root, v^'hich occurs from Florida and 

 Missouri to Massachusetts may be known from the preceding species by 

 its smaller size and because its oval lip is entire, or but very slightly toothed. 

 In North Carolina where it grows on the high mountains, the people make 

 quite a little revenue from gathering its coral-like rootstock which they sell 

 to chemists. 



C. Corallorhiza^ early coral-root, is also a small plant of from five to 

 twelve inches high. From the north it extends southward to Georgia and 

 is mostly an inhabitant of the mountains. It blooms in May and June. 

 The flowers are yellowish, or dull purple and grow on very short and 

 minutely bract ed pedicels. The twice-toothed lip is noticeably shorter than 

 the other petals. 



CRESTED CORAL=ROOT. 



Hexalcctris aphyllus . 



FAMILY COLOUR ODOUR RANGE TIME OF BLOOM 



Orchid. Dull purplish. Scentless. Missouri and Florida July-Septeinder. 



to South Carolina. 



Flowers: large; growing on very short pedicels in a loose raceme at the end of 

 a stout scape, ten to twenty inches high and bearing a number of purplish scales, 

 the upper ones being lanceolate. Sepals and petals: similar; narrowly oblong; 

 pointed or blunt at the apex and marked with purple lines. Lip: short; obovate; 

 broad; slightly three-lobed, the middle one being the longer, rounded and ere- 

 nate ; crested. Leaves : none. Rootstock : fleshy, branched similar to coral. 



Through southeastern America and Mexico this plant is monotypic of its 

 genus. It growls in rich, shaded soil, and the flowers with their crested lips 

 are rather pretty. 



ADAM=AND=EVE. PUTTY=ROOT. 



Apiectrwn spicdtuni. 



Flowers : growing loosely on short pedicels in a raceme at the end of a smooth 

 scape, twelve inches to two feet high and which is clothed with three or more 

 slender and membraneous scales. Sepals and petals : similar; linear-lanceolate. 

 I^ip: clawed; shorter than the other petals, slightly three-lobed and wavy on the 

 margins. Cohinin: curved. Leaf: one only, arising in the late autumn from the 

 corm; oval or elliptical and tapering at the base into a margined petiole. 



