HABENARIA ^j 



narrow, and from two to twelve inches long and from half 

 an inch to an inch and a half in width. 



The spike is narrow, from three to eight inches in 

 length, and the flowers are greenish or greenish yellow. 

 This is perhaps the sign by which the species can 

 be most readily distinguished, but it is one that botanists 

 never permit themselves to trust; for nearly every 

 plant has albino freaks, and that alone would not be 

 sufficient to split those two closely resembling orchids into 

 two species. 



The sepals and petals of the Tall Leafy Green Orchis are 

 ovate and obtuse and about a quarter of an inch long. The 

 upper petals curve over the tips of the two side petals in a 

 little hood. The lip, which is about the same length as the 

 sepals, is lanceolate, entire, with a rounded point at the 

 tip. The spur is also about a quarter of an inch long, and 

 is slightly incurved. Leafy bracts a little larger than the 

 flowers rise from the base of each slightly twisted 

 ovary. 



With a magnifying glass one can raise these small flowers 

 to the dimensions of Mr. Gibson's drawings of the Tall 

 White Bog Orchis (Plate XVIIL, Figs, i and 2), which 

 they closely resemble. 



Their stalks are slender and weak, and as the anther 

 sacs are slightly divergent and somewhat overhanging from 

 the curvature of the flower, the pollen masses are apt to fall 

 out of them. On opening buds of this orchis, one will 

 often find that the pollen masses have fallen over and are 



