XVII 

 APLECTRUM 



ADAM-AND-EVE. PUTTYROOT 



Aplectrum spicatum (Walt.) B. S. P. (Plate LVIII.) 



The Aplectrum or "Spurless" Orchis, as its Greek name 

 signifies, is one of those plants that has become familiar to the 

 natives of a place because of some useful property. It rises 

 from a solid bulb-like root, like the corm of a crocus. This 

 bulb sends out offsets, each of which takes two years to de- 

 velop, and dies at the end of the third, so that on digging up 

 a root after the plant has finished flowering in June, there 

 will be found two more bulbs in a straight line connected 

 with the dying one. These two joined bulbs are called 

 "Adam-and-Eve" by the negroes and poor whites in 

 Georgia and the Southern States, where the orchid grows 

 freely. They wear them as amulets, and tell each other's 

 fortunes by placing the separated bulbs in water, and 

 according as "Adam or Eve pops up calculate the chances 

 of retaining a friend's affection, getting work, or living in 

 peace with neighbours." 



Pursh says that the name Puttyroot is more widely 

 used in the North, for in olden days it was the custom of 

 thrifty housewives to grind the roots and mix the powder 



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