254 July and August Flowers. 



There are numerous other noticeable* plants, which fl 

 in July and August, but we must conclude with some of t* 

 Orchidaccae. Among them a very curious one is the Dra^o ' ^ 

 claw, or Coral-root, Corallorhiza odontorhiza. It has no le 

 but the stem is about a foot high, with several brown sheath ' 

 The flowers are greenish, in a long spike, the lip bein<r wh*t 

 with purple spots. The root is a collection of small, fl e v, ' 

 tubes, branched and articulated like coral. Another splen Ya 

 plant is Orchis grandiflora. This is the finest of the genus If 

 bears a spike of large purple flowers, sometimes more thans' 

 inches long, and we have made it by cultivation nearly twi 

 that length. It will flower readily in the garden, if taken 

 with a considerable quantity of its native soil, and set in 

 shady situation. Several other species of Orchis are in flower 

 A very pretty and delicate one is O. ciliaris, with fringed 

 flowers, of a bright orange color. This is not, so common as 

 most other species, and is found in swamps. All the species 

 indeed, are among our most curious and interesting plants. We 

 have also found lately the beautiful Arcthusa, worthy of its po- 

 etical name. It is slender and delicate ; the stem with a few 

 loose sheaths,, bearing upon the summit a single large, nodding 

 fragrant flower, of the most splendid purple imaginable. ? ! 

 gonia verticillata is a curious plant. Near the top of the stem 

 is a single whorl of four of five leaves, and just above it a sin- 

 gle flower, with most peculiar sepals, very narrow, twisted 

 brown, and two or three inches long. Calopogon pulchcttum is 

 perhaps the most perfectly beautiful plant of the whole tribe. 

 It has a tuberous root, a very slender scape, of a foot or 

 eighteen inches high, sheathed with a single long lily-like leaf 

 and bearing about five or six large purple flowers, which, for 

 beauty of color, and delicacy of construction, are unequalled. 

 Goodyera, with its curious radical leaves, conspicuously veined 

 with white ; Spiranthes, two or three species, with frail stems, 

 and spirally twisted spikes ; and the superb Cypripedium spec- 

 tabile, with its white, purple-striped lip, and large plaited 

 leaves, are all remarkable plants, and well worthy the atten- 

 tion of the curious. Why have we not a good Monograph 

 of the American Orchidaceae ? 



