Genus 9. 



ORCHID FAMILY. 



555 



Three species or more, natives of northern North America. Type species : Piperia elegans 

 (Lindl.) Rydb. 



i. Piperia unalaschensis (Spreng.) Rydb. Alaska Piperia. Fig. 1369. 



Spiranthes unalaschensis Spreng. Syst. 3: 708. 1826. 



Habenaria unalaschensis S. Wats. Proc. Am. Acad. 12 : 

 277. 1877. 



P. unalaschensis Rydb. Bull. Torr. Club 28 : 270. 1901. 



Stem strict, i°-2° tall; lower leaves oblanceolate, 

 4'-6' long, obtuse or acutish; upper leaves lanceolate 

 to linear-lanceolate, alternate; spike 4/-12' long; 

 bracts lanceolate or ovate-lanceolate, shorter than the 

 flower,s; flowers greenish; lateral sepals oblong- 

 lanceolate; petals lanceolate, nearly as long as the 

 lateral sepals; lip oblong-lanceolate, somewhat has- 

 tately dilated at the base. 



In moist woods, Alaska to California, Colorado, Quebec 

 and Ontario. June-Sept. 



10. LYSIAS Salisb. Trans. Hort. Soc. 1 : 288. 1812. 



Plants with tubers or fleshy roots; stem scapose. Leaves 2, basal. Flowers greenish or 

 "white; sepals free, large and spreading; petals small and narrow; lip entire, linear or nearly 

 so; spur long and slender, generally longer than the elongated, straight ovary. Beak of the 

 stigma without appendages. Anther-sacs widely diverging, their narrow beak-like bases pro- 

 jecting forward; stalk of the pollen-mass laterally affixed to the back of the orbicular gland, 

 whose face is turned inward. Pod cylindric-clavate, distinctly stipitate. [Named for Lysias, 

 an Attic orator.] 



A circumboreal genus of about half a dozen species. Type species : Lysias bifolia (L.) Salisb. 



Scape bracted. 

 Scape naked. 



1. L. orbiculata. 



2. L. Hookeriana. 



i. Lysias orbiculata (Pursh) Rydb. Large Round-leaved Orchis. Fig. 1370. 



Orchis orbiculata Pursh, Fl. Am. Sept. 588. 1814. 

 Habenaria macrophylla Goldie, Edinb. Phil. Journ. 6: 331. 



1822. 

 Habenaria orbiculata Torr. Comp. 318. 1826. 

 L. orbiculata Rydb. in Britton, Man. 294. 1901. 



Scape stout, bracted, 1 °-2° high, occasionally bearing 

 a small leaf. Basal leaves 2, orbicular, spreading flat 

 on the ground, shining above, silvery beneath, 4,'-y' in 

 diameter; raceme loosely many-flowered; pedicels 

 nearly ¥ long, the fruiting ones erect; flowers greenish 

 white; upper sepal short, rounded; lateral sepals 

 spreading, falcate-ovate, obtuse 4"-s" long; petals 

 smaller; lip oblong-linear, entire, obtuse, white, about 

 6" long; spur longer than the ovary, often i¥ long; 

 anther-sacs prominent, converging above ; glands small, 

 orbicular, nearly ¥ apart, their faces turned toward 

 the axis. 



In rich woods, Newfoundland to British Columbia, North Carolina and Minnesota. Ascends 

 to 4500 ft. in Virginia. Large two-leaved orchis. Heal-all. July-Aug. Races differ in the size 

 of leaves and in length of the spur. 



