36 OUR NATIVE ORCHIDS 



5. TALL LEAFY GREEN ORCHIS 



Hahenaria hyperhorea (L.) R. Br. (Plate XVII., Fig. i.) 



We come now to a group of orchids with strong leafy 

 green stems. The leaves ascend the"stalk, clasping or half 

 sheathing it, and at the summit is a close raceme of pale 

 flowers. 



Perhaps the two species of the Habenaria group that are 

 the hardest to distinguish one from another are the Tall 

 Leafy Green Orchis and the Tall White Bog Orchis. A 

 great many botanists have considered them varieties of the 

 same species, and Asa Gray says that he was tempted to 

 come to the same conclusion, but on close examination he 

 found besides other characteristics, of which the chief is the 

 column, a remarkable physiological difference, viz., that 

 the Tall White Bog Orchis depended on insects for its 

 fertilisation, while in the Tall Leafy Green Orchis the pollen 

 masses commonly fall out of the anther cells while the flower 

 is very young or in bud, and the stigma is thus generally 

 self fertilised. 



The descriptions of these two species read almost like 

 duplicate sentences. One must notice the differences in 

 degree and remember that the Tall Leafy Green Orchis 

 is stouter and larger and that the average measurements 

 of each must be taken into consideration all through the 

 species. 



The Tall Leafy Green Orchis grows from eight inches 

 to three feet in height. Its leaves are sharp-pointed and 



