X 



ACHROANTHES 

 adder's-mouth. (Plate XLVII.) 



Among the tiny things that grow close to Mother Earth 

 and bloom in July when summer is at its height, are two 

 very small orchids, whose characteristic sign is a single leaf 

 clasping the stem a little way from the ground, and a stalk 

 of feathery white or green flowers. 



This genus was known formerly as Microstylis or Adder's- 

 mouth, and as such many a schoolboy has analysed it. 

 Now the older name Achroanthes, which being translated 

 from the Greek would mean "colourless flowers," must 

 become familiar to old orchid hunters. 



There are about forty species of Adder's-mouth known to 

 botanists and six in North America; but of these only two 

 grow in our northern and eastern limits. These have a solid 

 bulb for a root, a slender stem a few inches high, on which is 

 poised the single leaf, and which is sheathed at the base by 

 several scales. The flowers are very small, white in one species 

 and green in the other. They grow in a terminal raceme, and 

 although there is neither odour nor colour to attract visits 

 of insects or admiration from men, yet they are by no means 

 unattended by the former, and they never fail to cause 



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