70 



NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



been found 



Small Round-leaved Orchis 



Orchis rot II ikI if nil a Pursh 



Along with the Calypso, this 

 smnll orchis shares the distinction 

 ( il being the rarest wild flower of 

 the State. Its slender stem rises 

 to a height of 6 to lo inches and 

 bears near the base a single oval 

 or orbicvilar leaf, i to 3 inches 

 long, with one or two scales 

 sheathing the stem below the leaf. 

 Flowers in a short temiinal spike, 

 usually five to ten in number, each 

 flower subtended by a small green 

 bract. Sepals and petals oval, 

 rose-colored, the lateral sepals 

 spreading and usually slightly 

 shorter, but sometimes longer than 

 the petals; lip white, beautifully 

 spotted with purple, longer than 

 the petals, three-lobed, the middle 

 lobe larger, dilated and two-lobed 

 or notched at the apex; spur 

 slender, shorter than the lip or 

 arely eqtialling it in length. 



In damp, mossy woods, Green- 

 land to the Rocky mountains, 

 Maine, New York and Wisconsin. 

 The records of its occuiTence in 

 this State are very few. It has 

 n r)neida, Herkimer and Lewis counties, but not in recent 



(Photograph by O. O. NyU 



Figure VII 



Small Round-leaved Orchis 



(D r c his rot u n d i f n li a Pursh 



