Yellow and Orange 



Yellow Fringed Orchis 



{Habenaria ciliaris) Orchid family 



Flowers — Bright yellow or orange, borne in a showy, closely set, 

 oblong spike, 3 to 6 in. long. The lip of each flower copi- 

 ously fringed ; the slender spur \ \o xYz in. long ; similar to 

 white fringed orchis (see p. 165) ; and between the two, 

 intermediate pale yellow hybrids may be found. Stem : 

 Slender, leafy, i to 2^ feet high. Leaves : Lance-shaped, 

 clasping. 



Preferred Habitat— }Ao\'sX meadows and sandy bogs. 



Flowering Season — ^July — August. 



Distribution— V Qxmoni to Florida ; Ontario to Texas. 



Where this brilliant, beautiful orchid and its lovely white sis- 

 ter grow together in the bog — which cannot be through a very 

 wide range, since one is common northward, where the other is 

 rare, and vice versa — the yellow fringed orchis will be found 

 blooming a few days later. In general structure the plants closely 

 resemble each other. Their similar method of enforcing payment 

 for a sip of nectar concealed in a tube so narrow and deep none 

 but a sphinx moth or butterfly may drain it all (though large 

 bumblebees occasionally get some too, from brimming nectaries) 

 has been described on page 166, to which the interested reader is 

 referred. Both these orchids have their sticky discs projecting 

 unusually far, as if raised on a pedicel — an arrangement which indi- 

 cates that they "are to be stuck to the fiice or head of some nectar- 

 sucking insect of appropriate size that visits the flowers," wrote Dr. 

 Asa Gray over forty years ago. Various species of hawk moths, 

 common in different parts of our area, of course have tongues of 

 various lengths, and naturally every visitor does not receive his load 

 of pollen on the same identical spot. At dusk, when sphinx moths 

 begin their rounds, it will be noticed that the white and yellow 

 flowers remain conspicuous long after blossoms of other colors 

 have melted into the general darkness. Such flowers as cater to 

 these moths, if they have fragrance, emit it then most strongly, 

 as an additional attraction. Again, it will be noticed that few 

 such flowers provide a strong projecting petal-platform for visit- 

 ors to alight on ; that would be superfluous, since sphinx 

 moths suck while hovering over a tube, with their wings in ex- 

 ceedingly rapid motion, just like a humming-bird, for which the 

 larger species are so often mistaken at twilight. This deep-hued 

 orchid apparently attracts as many butterflies as sphinx moths, 

 which show a predilection for the white species. 



From Ontario and the Mississippi eastward, and southward 

 to the Gulf, the Tubercled or Small Pale Green Orchis {H. flava) 



287 



