PERAMIUM 115 



of orchids now mostly extinct, but the parents of many 

 living descendants." 



There are about twenty-five species widely distributed 

 in temperate and tropical regions. 



KEY TO THE SPECIES OF PERAMIUM 



Spike one-sided, plant small, five to 



ten inches high, leaves ovate. I. Lesser Rattlesnake Plantain. 



Spike not one-sided. 



Plant six to twenty inches tall, 

 leaves very strongly netted with 

 white, the tip of the lip short 

 and curved in. 2. Downy Rattlesnake Plantain. 



Plant eight to fifteen inches high, 

 leaves not so strongly netted 

 or blotched with white; lip 

 swollen at the base, with a long 

 tip. 3. Menzies' Rattlesnake Plantain. 



I. LESSER RATTLESNAKE PLANTAIN 



Peramium repens (L.) Salisb. (Plate XLV.) 



This species is the smallest of the three Rattlesnake 

 Plantains familiar to us. It grows from five to ten inches 

 in height. The significance of its Latin name as well as 

 its habit would warrant us in calling it the Creeping Rattle- 

 snake Plantain. Its ovate leaves, though strongly marked, 

 blotched with white or with yellow netted veins, do not 

 grow in such a decided tuft as in the Downy Rattlesnake 

 Plantain, but have a tendency to lie along the ground before 

 the scape rises erect. The leaves are an inch or more in 

 length and half as wide, being distinctly pointed. They clasp 



