448 OKCHiDACE^. (orchis family.) 



5. SPIRANTHES, Richard. Ladies' Trbsseb. 



Flower somewhat ringent ; the lateral sepals rather ohlique at the base and 

 somewhat decurrent on the ovary, covering the base of the lip ; the upper one 

 cohering with the petals ; all usually erect. Lip oblong, concave and embracing 

 the wingless column below, furnished with 2 callosities next the base, contracted 

 into a short claw below them or sessile, the spreading apex more or less dilated. 

 Column arching, obliquely short-stalked, the ovate stigma usually with a 

 short-pointed and at length 2-cleft beak. Anther attached to the back of the 

 column. Pollen-masses 2, club-shaped or obovate, fixed to the stigma by 

 a gland, deeply 2-cleft from the broader end (and in S. gracilis again 2-clcft) 

 into tender lamelte which are more or less inroUcd when young, bearing 

 the powdery pollen-grains. — Roots clustered-tuberous. Stems naked, or 

 leafy below. Flowers small, white, bent hoi'izontal, in a close usually spi- 

 rally twisted spike (whence the name, from amlpa, a coil or curl, and iWos, 

 blossom). 



* Scape naked, hardy braded below : leaves all at or near the ground, early disap- 

 peanng : flowers all onesided. 



1. S. g^rdcilis, Bigelow. Scape very slender (8' -15' high), smooth; 

 spike slender, so twisted as to throw the flowers as they expand all into a single 

 (straiglitish or usually spiral) row ; bracts ovate, pointed, not longer than the 

 pods, to which they are closely appressed ; lip spatulate-oblong, strongly wavy- 

 crisped .at the rounded summit (not lobed), the callosities at the base conspicu- 

 ous, incurved; leaves varying from ovate to oblong-lanceolate, pctioled (l'-2 

 long), thin. (Also S. Beckii, Lindl., as to the Northern plant.) — Hilly woods 

 and sandy plains: common. July, Aug. — Perianth and lip |' — j long, of a 

 delicate pearly texture : the calli at first oval, bearded at the base inside, at 

 length elongating and recurved. 



* * Scape or stem leafy towards the base : flowers not unilateral. 



2. S. liltifolin. Ton-, in Lindl. i^iu (4'-9' high) ; leaves oblong-lanceolate, 

 narrowed into a sheathing base ; spike oblong, rather dense, more or less twist- 

 ed ; bracts lanceolate, acutish, the lower as long as the flowers ; lip oblong, very 

 obtuse, wavy-crisped at the apex, 5 - 7-nervod below, and with 2 oblong adnata 

 callosities at tlie base. (S. plantaginea, Toit. in N. Y. FL, not of Lindl. S. 

 sestivalis, Oakes, cat.) — Moist banks, N. New York, W. New England, and 

 northward; not rare. June. — Leaves chiefly towards the base of the stem, 

 2' - 4' long and about ^' wide, thickish ; above are one or two small leaf-like 

 bracts. Flowers white with the lip yellowish, larger than in No. 1, much small- 

 er than in No. 3 ; the sepals minutely glandular-pubescent, as well as the axis 

 of the spike. — I find nothing to distinguish it from S. aestivalis except that the 

 flowers are a trifle smaller, and the bracts less acute. 



3. S. cernua, Richard. Root-leaves linear-lanceolate, elongated, those of the 

 stem similar but smaller, passing into bracts ; spike dense, minutely pubescent; 

 bracts ovate-lanceolate, pointed, as long as the flowers ; lip oblong, furnished 

 with two minute callosities at the base, constricted above the middle, rounded at 

 the summit, wavy-crisped. — Wet grassy places ; common. Aug. - Oct. — Stem 



