ACHROANTHES 123 



pedicels. In fact they are so very small that they are often 

 not more than a twelfth of an inch in length. 



The only petal really distinguishable to the naked eye is 

 the lip that is pointed heart shaped, with saw-toothed sides. 



In spite of their minuteness they form a most airy, 

 graceful, feathery white spike, which, rising above the crisp 

 veined leaf, makes a very exquisite and fairy-like plant. 



This White Adder's-mouth grows in very damp woods 

 from Quebec to Minnesota, and from Pennsylvania to 

 Nebraska, and blooms in July. 



2. GREEN adder's-mouth 



Achroanthes unifolia (Michx.) Raf. (Plate XLVIL, Fig. 2.) 



The Green Adder's-mouth has a glabrous striped stem, 

 which grows from four to ten inches in height and which 

 bears its one shining green oval leaf about half way up the 

 stem. 



The character of the raceme is quite distinct from that 

 of the White Adder's-mouth. It is often an inch thick, and 

 about three inches long, and composed of slender greenish 

 flowers standing off obliquely on slender spreading pedicels. 



The sepals are narrow and oblong, and the two lateral 

 petals as narrow as threads. The lip is broad and three 

 parted, without any decided marking, but sufficiently 

 distinct from the sharp-pointed tip of the heart-shaped lip 

 of the White Adder's-mouth to distinguish the one species 

 from the other. 



