XIV 

 TIPULARIA 



CRANE-FLY ORCHIS 



Tipularia unifolia (Muhl.) B. S. P. (Plate LV.) 



One of the rarest orchids that we have in the Eastern 

 United States, and that ranks next to the smaller Pogonia 

 in its scarcity, is the Crane-fly Orchis. Here and there in 

 sandy woods in New England, as far as Michigan and south 

 to Louisiana and Florida, it may occiasionally be found. 

 It is a prize to the collector, and its discovery will arouse a 

 train of thought if he be a philosopher, for the specimen 

 that he brings home to his herbarium must be a hardy 

 survivor of a genus that once was scattered widely over the 

 earth. In the Himalayan Mountains there is a species of 

 the Crane-fly Orchis so like this, that its only distinguishing 

 feature is a slight diff"erence in the tip of the leaf. Did this, 

 orchis have its day when the continents were so diff"erent 

 in outline that they made a continuous garden; and since 

 oceans have rolled between, is it any wonder that the Asiatic 

 brother should be not quite recognisable to its American 

 relations that have almost died out .'' 



Whether the Himalayan Crane-fly Orchis is common and 

 hardy there we cannot say, but for some reason, in this 

 country, this plant, that must once have been common to 



H5 



