42 OUR NATIVE ORCHIDS 



to form a little hood, while the sepals at the side spread out 

 and are a little longer than the petals. The lip is almost 

 entire, giving the species the name Integra, which means 

 "whole." It is, however, slightly cut around the margin. It 

 is not large and shovsy, neither is the straight spur that 

 hangs a trifle longer than the lip remarkable for any peculiar 

 shape. Looking into the heart of a flower with a microscopic 

 eye, one may see a pair of little fleshy horns with the back of 

 the stigma protruding between them. 



8. LONG-BRACTED ORCHIS 



Hahenaria bracteata (Willd.) R. Br. (Plate XIX.) 



One would never notice this slight inconspicuous orchis, 

 with its few inches of leafy stem and its tiny closely pressed 

 green flowers, were one not in the mood to "peep and 

 botanise." Even at its maximum height of two feet its 

 blossoms are not attractive to the eye. Compare these 

 minute flowers with narrow thread-like petals, barely a 

 quarter of an inch long, and the strap-like lobed lips and 

 the very short sac-like spur, with the painted glories of the 

 florist or even with some of the beautiful fringed wands of 

 the other native-growing Habenarias, and one wonders 

 that they both are called orchis; and yet a good hand lens 

 will magnify the flower into a very elaborate and exquisitely 

 modelled member of the family. The anther sacs lie side by 

 side, with diverging apertures from which are drawn a pair 

 of club-shaped pollen masses, exactly as in the types that 



