148 OUR NATIVE ORCHIDS 



half in height from a small white bulb that shines like a tiny 

 egg between its brown sheath. Some long, fleshy rootlets 

 hold it in place, and from under a long brown sheath that 

 sometimes extends for several inches, there springs a bright 

 green leaf, generally long and narrow, with parallel veins. 

 It has a smooth surface and margin, and looks very like a 

 blade of grass. 



Below the flower cluster is a smaller pointed bract leaf, 

 and then comes the little spire of blossoms of three to fifteen 

 flowers. The stem ascends in angled joints, each about an 

 inch in length, and from each bend springs one or two 

 blossoms, each an inch long. The blossoms ascend, the 

 lowest withering while the youngest are still in their curved 

 oval buds. 



A little green sheath supports each flower. The ovary is 

 slender and ribbed, often slightly curved, but never twisted 

 around. The six oval, pointed, lavender or crimson-purple 

 petals and sepals flutter and curve away from the centre. 

 The lip, reared high, and spotted with white, is scalloped 

 like a standing heart. It bears a brush of orange, rose or 

 yellow bristles that bend toward the column. The in- 

 curved column is lavender, and attached under a shelf on its 

 back by a slender thread are two parallel anther sacs. How 

 the insects effect cross fertilisation is yet to be discovered; 

 but to do this a trustworthy punt and a mosquito net, and 

 hours of patience are requisite, for if one removed the Grass- 

 pink from its swampy home, one could never induce the 



