96 THE ORCHID FAMILY. 



Although the spurless flowers of this plant are not at all showy there is 

 still considerable interest attached to it as being the representative of a 

 nionotypic genus. A single leaf it bears, which comes up late in the autumn, 

 remains green and full of life through the winter, or until the plant in the 

 spring puts forth signs of flowering. Then it dies down to the corm. With 

 Tipularia uni/o/ia this is also a characteristic and is illustrated in Plate 

 XXXI 11. Another curious point is that when the plant is uprooted there 

 are found to be as in a chain several old corms attached in succession to 

 the one of the present season. It was perhaps a young plant that had borne 

 but two which suggested to the donor of its popular name, Adam and Eve, 

 hand in hand. The name putty-root is in reference to the thick cement- 

 Uke substance within these corms and which has been used to fill up 

 crevices. 



CRANE=FLY ORCHID. {Plate XXXIII.) 



Tip III aria unifblia. 



FAMILY COLOUR ODOUR RANGE TIME OF BLOOM 



Orchid. Green striped 7vith Scentless. Louisiana and Florida July., August, 



purple. to I'irginia and westward. 



Flozvers : growing on thread-like pedicels loosely in a bractless raceme on a 

 smooth, pale green scape of from ten to twenty inches high which arises from a 

 bulb and is sheathed at the base with several scales. Sepals and petals : \\wt?,x., 

 spreading. Lip : equalling or shorter than the petals; three-lobed ; the middle 

 lobe, long, narrow and projected into a very long, slender spur which is straight, 

 or but slightly curved. Leaf : one only, arising from a separate lateral bulb and 

 appearing late in the autumn ; ovate, pointed at the apex and tapering at the base 

 into a sheathed petiole ; entire or slightly puckered on the margins. 



Although in the mountains of Himalaya there is another species known to 

 exist, this plant is the only American representative of the genus. It is, 

 moreover, rare and local and when found is usually growing in soil that is 

 shaded and moist. It is a strange- looking plant ; the flowers resembling 

 scrawny insects whose generic name is Tipiila. After the plant has ap- 

 parently perished in the autumn, one dark green leaf springs up and lasts 

 over the winter. Often it is quite attractive, mingling on its surfaces bright 

 shades of red and purple, but never is it seen at the same time as the flower- 

 ing scape. 



Bletia Vereciinda. 



FAMILY COLOUR ODOUR RANGE TIME OF BLOOM 



Orchid. Dark green. Scentless. Southern Florida. July-October. 



Flowers : numerous ; quite large ; growing in a raceme at the end of a lateral 

 scape often three and a half feet high, and clothed with several sheathing, mem- 

 braneous bracts. Bracts of the inflorescence one half to one and a half inches 

 long, linear. Sepals and petals : spreading, similar ; the former lanceolate, the latter 



