ORCHIDACEAE 



ORCHIS FAMILY 



PURPLE FRINGED ORCHIS 



Habenaria psycodes (L.) Sw. 



The Purple Fringed Orchis grows in wet woods, meadows 

 and swamps from Newfoundland to Minnesota and south to 

 North Carolina and westward. It has fleshy, somewhat tuberous 

 roots and a slender leafy stem 1-3 feet 

 high. Leaves vary from oval to lanceo- 

 late and are 2-10 inches long and 1-3 

 inches wide. 



This increasingly rare Orchid blooms 

 in July and August. The lilac or purplish 

 and delicately fragrant flowers are 

 borne in a dense raceme 2-6 inches long. 

 The upper sepal is a little narrower than 

 the lower ovate 2, and the 2 lateral 

 petals are oblong and toothed along 

 the upper margin. The lip is 3-parted, 

 the segments fan shaped and beauti- 

 fully fringed. At the base the lip is 

 extended into a spur about three- 

 quarters of an inch long. The pollen is 

 in the form of pollinia. 



The White Fringed Orchis, Habenaria 

 leucophaea (Nutt.) Gray, is abundant 

 locally across the northern third of the 

 state. The stout, angled stem, \y2-iy2 feet 

 high, bears the lanceolate leaves 4-8 

 inches long, and is tipped with the 3-5- 

 inch, loosely flowered spike. The large 

 flowers are fragrant and white, sometimes 

 tinged with green. The obovate petals 

 are cut toothed and about one-quarter 

 inch long, and the 3 wedge-shaped 

 segments of the half-inch lip are copiously 

 fringed. The spur is i-i^ inches long. 



In northern Illinois bogs and swamps 

 the Tall Green Orchis, Habenaria hyper- 

 borea (L.) R, Br., may be found. The 

 2-3-foot stem bears many lanceolate leaves 2-12 inches long and is 

 topped by a narrow 2-8-inch spike of greenish yellow flowers. Sepals 

 and petals are oval, blunt and one-quarter inch long, and the some- 

 what larger lip is deflexed and bears at its base a blunt, narrow spur 

 as long as itself. 



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