The Turple-Fringed and the Ragged Orchid 



r- 



entrance fo I 

 nectary, side | 

 aperture of 

 opening divid 

 ed by palate 



oHen poucK 



sfigmca. 

 ^/viscid pollen - 

 ^^ gland guard- 

 ing opening 



individual flower is shown enlarged at Fig. 2, the lip 

 here cut with a lacerated fringe. The pollen-pouches 

 approach slightly at the base, directly opposite the 

 nectary, where the two viscid pollen-glands stand 

 on guard. Now, were the opening of the necta- 

 ry at this point unimpeded, the same condition 

 would exist as in the i)ur- 

 ple- fringed orchid — the 

 tongue might be inserted 

 between the pollen disks 

 and withdrawn without 

 touching them. But here 

 comes the remarkable and 

 very exceptional provision 

 to make this contact a cer- 

 tainty — a suggestive struc- 

 tural feature of this flower, 

 of which I am surprised to 

 find no mention, either in our botanies or in the 

 literature of cross-fertilization, so far as I am familiar 

 with its bibliography. The nectary here, instead of 

 being freely open, as in other orchids described, is 

 abruptly closed at the central portion by a firm 

 l^rotuberance or palate, which projects downward 

 from the base of the stigma, and closely meets the 

 lip below. 



137 



Fig. 2. 



