ORCHID FAMILY. Orchidaceae. 



petals, which are alike. They are beautiful and yet not 

 quite pleasing, for we feel instinctively that there is some- 

 thing unnatural about them and, indeed, the strange 

 absence of any green coloring matter in their make-up 

 indicates that they are incapable of making their own 

 food from the elements and draw their nourishment from 

 decaying vegetation, or are parasitic on other plants. 

 They range northward from Yosemite but are nowhere 

 very abundant. I found several growing near the trail 

 from Little Yosemite Valley to Cloud's Rest and a good 

 many in the woods near the foot of Mt. Shasta, where they 

 seem to be quite common. 



There are several kinds of Serapias, widely distributed; 

 tall, stout herbs, with creeping rootstocks and leafy stems; 

 the leaves plaited lengthwise and clasping at base; the 

 flowers with leafy bracts, in terminal racemes. The 

 flowers have no spur; the sepals and petals are separate 

 and nearly equal; the lip broad, free, concave below, 

 constricted near the middle. 



A handsome plant, decorative and 



( ? rchis curious in form and unusual in coloring. 

 Chatter-box 



Scr&pios gigantio Jt ls f rom One to four feet tal1 ' Wlth a stout 



(Epipactis) leafy stem bearing three to ten flowers and 



Reddish and smoothish leaves, with prominent veins. 



s'ummer" 7611 The Sepals are reddish or greenish-yellow 

 West, etc. and the petals pinkish, veined with 



maroon. The lip is pouched at the base, 

 with a winged margin and a pendulous tip, which swings 

 freely as if on a hinge, so that it quivers when the plant is 

 shaken. Although the flowers are very handsome this 

 curious tremulous motion, which makes them seem almost 

 alive, gives them a quaint likeness to an old woman in a 

 sunbonnet, with a hooked nose and chattering jaw. They 

 have a slight scent and the plant is quite common along 

 streams and in wet places, in the West and in Colorado and 

 Texas. Some botanists think it is identical with a variety 

 which grows in the Himalaya Mountains. It was named 

 for the Egyptian deity, Serapis. 



74 



