ORCHIS 23 



2. SMALL ROUND-LEAVED ORCHIS 



Orchis rotundifolia, Pursh. (Plate XL) 



For a long time. Orchis spectahilts was the only one of 

 the eighty known species to represent the genus in North 

 America, for its true sister was called Habenaria rotundi- 

 folia, but now the Small Round-leaved Orchis (Plate XL) is 

 put in its place in the genus Orchis. It is a delicate, pretty 

 little plant growing in cedar woods and ferny places, and 

 loving the cold and damp. It grows only in our Northern 

 States, but has travelled as far as Greenland. 



Its one leaf is oval or nearly round, from one and a half 

 to three inches long. The spike, which is about eight inches 

 tall, has from two to six minute pale whitish flowers. The 

 small three-lobed lip, with tiny purple flecks, is larger than 

 the petals, and has the middle lobe cleft or divided. The 

 spur is slender and shorter than the lip. It is by no means 

 as attractive as the Showy Orchid, or as other wonderful 

 foreign specimens belonging to the genus; but it has the 

 same interesting but infinitesimal mechanism as its sister. 

 It blooms in June and July. 



