34 OUR NATIVE ORCHIDS 



Fig. 2), probably to leave room in so small a flower for 

 the insect's head, while beneath them on the lip going into 

 the mouth of the spur (Fig. 4), (which in his illustration 

 Mr. Gibson has shown cut open) there run two ridges which 

 converge and make a two-lobed ridge. This doubtless serves 

 to swerve the insect's tongue in such a way that he must turn 

 his head to receive the disc on one side or the other and pull 

 out at least one pollen mass (Fig. 3). 



4. SOUTHERN SMALL WHITE ORCHIS 



Habenaria nivea (Nutt.) Spreng. (Plate XVI., Fig. i.) 



The striking thing about the Small White Orchis of the 

 South is its fine, thin, twisted stem angled with a host of 

 small bract-like leaves pressed closely to it . and one long 

 ribbon that flutters from near the base. Sometimes there is 

 a gradation between the long grass-like basal leaf and the 

 others; but generally the contrast is sharp, and the lowest 

 one is four to eight inches long and the upper so small that 

 they merge into the bracts of the spike. 



The general appearance of the stem is rather naked, as it 

 appears to have but one leaf — and that like a whip-lash — in 

 its twelve to fifteen inches of height. It bears a loose wand 

 two to four inches long, with many small white blossoms. 



An interesting, unexplained and, indeed, unique char- 

 acteristic of these apparently unremarkable flowers is the 

 presence of a straight ovary. With a magnifying glass, 

 peering into the maze of spurs and bracts in the spike, one 



