Genus 21. 



ORCHID FAMILY. 



569 



21. PERAMIUM Salisb. Trans. Hort. Soc. 1 : 301. 1812. 



[Goodyera R. Br. in Ait. Hort. Kew. Ed. 2, 5 : 197. 1813.] 



Herbs with bracted erect scapes, the leaves basal, tufted, often blotched with white, the 

 roots thick fleshy fibers. Flowers in bracted spikes. Lateral sepals free, the upper one 

 united with the petals into a galea. Lip sessile, entire, roundish ovate, concave or saccate; 

 without callosities, its apex reflexed. Anther without a lid, erect or incumbent, attached to 

 the column by a short stalk; pollinia one in each sac, attached to a small disk which coheres 

 with the top of the stigma, composed of angular grains. [Greek, referring to the pouch- 

 like lip.] 



About 25 species, widely distributed in temperate and tropical regions. Type species : Peramium 

 ripens (L.) Salisb. 



Spike i-sided or loosely spiral ; lip elongated. 

 Margin of the lip recurved or flaring. 



Anther blunt ; beak of stigma shorter than the body. '• £• ophioides. 



Anther acuminate; beak of stigma as long as body or longer. 2 - "• tesselatum. 



Margin of the lip involute. 3- P- decipiens. 



Spike dense, cylindric ; lip short-tipped. 



i. Peramium ophioides (Fernald) Rydb. 

 Lesser Rattlesnake Plantain. Fig. 1402. 



Goodyera repens var. ophioides Fernald, Rhodora 



1 : 6. 1899. 

 P. ophioides Rydb. in Britton, Man. 302. 1901. 

 Epipactis repens ophioides A. A. Eaton, Proc. Biol. 



Soc. Wash. 21 : 65. 1908. 



Scape s'-io' high, glandular-pubescent, bear- 

 ing several small scales. Leaves ovate, the 

 blade 6"-is" long, 4"-8" wide, somewhat re- 

 ticulated or blotched with white, tapering into 

 a sheathing petiole; spike short, i-sided; 

 flowers. greenish white; perianth ii"-2" long; 

 galea concave, ovate, with a short spreading or 

 slightly recurved tip ; lip saccate, with a nar- 

 row recurved or spreading apex; column very 

 short; anther 2-celled; pollinia not prolonged 

 into a caudicle. 



In woods, Newfoundland to Yukon, South Caro- 

 lina, Michigan and Colorado. Ascends to 5000 

 ft. in Virginia. Creeping-root plant. White- 

 plantain. Squirrel-ear. P. repens (L.) Salisb. 

 is restricted to Europe and Asia. Juiy-Aug. 



^^ 



2. Peramium tesselatum (Lodd.) Hel- 

 ler. Loddiges' Rattlesnake Plantain. 

 Fig. 1403. 



Goodyera tesselata Lodd. Bot. Cab. 10 : pi. 952. 

 1824. 



Epipactis tesselata A. A. Eaton, Proc. Biol. Soc. 

 Wash. 21 : 66. 1908. 



P. tesselatum Heller, Cat. N. A. PI. Ed. 2, 4. 1900. 



Scape 6-12' high, glandular-pubescent, scaly. 

 Leaves ovate, oblong-ovate or ovate-lanceolate, 

 the blade io"-2o" long, 4"-n" wide, bright 

 green, more or less conspicuously marked with 

 white, usually abruptly narrowed into the 

 sheathing petiole; spike i^'-s' long, loosely 

 spiral; flowers whitish, larger than those of 

 P. ophioides; perianth 2"-2i" long; galea 

 broad, the tip recurved; lip slightly saccate at 

 the base, the long tip somewhat recurved ; 

 column short. 



Mostly in coniferous woods, Newfoundland to 

 Ontario, Pennsylvania and Michigan. July-Sept. 



