AND VICINITY. 83 



ORCHID ACE.^. Orchids. 



ORCHIS, L. 



spectabilis, L. Showy Orchis. 



Damp rich woods. Common. May. 



GYMNADENIA, R. Brown. 



tridentata, Lindley. Thi'ee-toothed-lipped Gymnadenia. 



Shady swamps. Abundant. July. 



PLATANTHERA, Richard. 



obtusata, Lindl. Obtuse-leaved Platanthera. 



Mossy springy banks in the north woods, between Third lake and Bald rock, 

 Herkimer county. Rare. July. 



rotttndifolia, Lindley. Round-leaved Platanthera. 



var. oblongipolia. Oblong-leaved Platanthera. 



Upland, open, sphagnous level at the head of Mud lake, south Herkimer 

 county; under scattered tamaracks and arbor vitae, either among clusters 

 of the young evergreens or in shade of their north side, in cold damp moss: 

 accompanied by Calypso borealis, Cypripedium arietinum, Eriophorum al- 

 pinum. To be looked for on the extensive tamarack swamps south of Jordan- 

 ville. 



Roots thi'ee or four long toothed tubers : scape six to twelve inches high : 

 leaf resting on the moss or settled in it, white cellular beneath as those of 

 P. orbiculata, about ten-nerved, long elliptical or oblong, two inches broad 

 by four to six in length; radical scapeless leaves still narrower, less than 

 half as wide : spikes six- to twelve -flowered, bracts nearly as long as the 

 ovaries : flowers large, lateral sepals spreading nearly three-fourths of an 

 inch : spur shorter than the lip, slender, lying close to the capsule : lip half 

 an inch long, sometimes oblong or rectangular and entire, with a wavy border, 

 but usually more or less parted into lateral lobes and notched at the end, 

 white with eight or ten purple spots : petals narrow, converging over the 

 column, deep purple: lower sepals long ovate, white; upper one broad ovate, 

 either curving over the petals or sometimes reflexed, veined and tinged Avith 

 purple. A plant as beautiful as it is rare. 



It has been found before only in Newfoundland, Isle of Anticosti at the 

 mouth of the St. Lawrence, along the northeastern boundaries of Maine, and 

 in the northern Rocky mountains ; so that its presence south of latitude 43° 

 is most remarkable. Local. June, July. 



orbiculata, Lindley. Orbicular- leaved Platanthera. 



Deep damp woods. Throughout the valley of the Mohawk. About Otsego 

 lake, Miss S. Cooper : B. I). Gilbert. Most frequent on Frankfort bill, and 

 among the headwaters of the Deerfleld creek. Oriskany valley; Oriskany, 

 Manchester, Clinton and College hill. Abundant in the north woods. Wide- 

 ly scattered, but scarce. July. 



hookeri, Lindl. Dedicated to William J. Hooker. 



Dry woods. Littlefalls, bushy clea'red land on the summit of Fall hill, south 

 of the Mohawk. Dense woods along hillsides east of Utica and Oriskany, 

 Knieskem. Sandy evergreen-wooded ridges southwest of Whitesboro. Pine 

 barrens along Wood creek, near New-London : abundant in Jefferson county, 

 Gray. Scarce. 



var. oblongipolia. Oblong-leaved Hooker's Platanthera. 



Steep banks of Fall hill at Littlefalls, between the tops of the cliffs and the 

 brow of the high land. 



Leaves four to six inches in length by two wide, narrowing toward the base 

 into a clasping sheath, as in the var. of P. rotundifolia. Local, June. 



