Red and Indefinites 



has a more northerly range, however, extending from the moun- 

 tains of Georgia, it is true, but chiefly from the northern boundary 

 of the United States, from New England westward to the State of 

 Washington, and northward to Nova Scotia and Alaska. 



Adam and Eve; Putty-root 



{Aplectrum sptcatum) Orchid family 

 (y^. hyemale of Gray) 



Flowers — Dingy yellowish brown and purplish, about i in. long, 

 each on a short pedicel, in a few-flowered, loose, bracted 

 raceme 2 to 4 in. long. No spur ; sepals and petals similar, 

 small and narrow, the lip wavy-edged. Scape .• i to 2 ft. 

 high, smooth, with about 3 sheathing scales. Leaf: Solitary, 

 rising from the corm in autumn, elliptic, broad, plaited-nerved, 

 4 to 6 in. long. Root: A corm usually attached to one of 

 the preceding season. 



Preferred Habitat— }Aa\sX woods or swamps. 



Flowering Season — May — ^June. 



Distribution — Georgia, Missouri, and California northward, into 

 British Possessions. 



More curious than beautiful is this small orchid whose dingy 

 flowers of indefinite color and without spurs interest us far less 

 than the two corms barely hidden below ground. These singu- 

 lar solid bulbs, about an inch thick, are connected by a slender stalk, 

 suggesting to the imaginative person who named the plant our 

 first parents standing hand in hand in the Garden of Eden. 



But usually several old corms — not always two, by any means 

 — remain attached to the nearest one, a bulb being produced each 

 year until Cain and Abel often join Adam and Eve to make up 

 quite a family group. A strong, glutinous matter within the 

 corms has been used as a cement, hence the plant's other popular 

 name. From the newest bulb added, a solitary large leaf arises 

 in latd summer or autumn, to remain all winter. The flower stalk 

 comes up at one side of it the following spring. Meantime the 

 old corms retain their life, apparently to help nourish the young 

 one still joined to them, while its system is taxed wi,th flowering. 



Wild Ginger; Canada Snakeroot; Asarabacca 



{Asarum Canadense) Birthwort family 



Flower— SoWXary , dull purplish brown, creamy white within, about 

 1 in. broad when expanded, borne on a short peduncle close 



373 



