WILD FLOWERS OF NEW YORK 7 1 



years. Our illustration is from a photograph by Olaf 0. Nylander, taken 

 in Maine. 



Showy Orchis 



Galeorchis spectabilis (Linnaeus) Rydberg 

 (Orchis spectabilis Linnaeus) 



Plate 34 



Entire plant rather fleshy; stems short, five-angled, 4 to 12 inches 

 high from a short rootstock provided with numerous fleshy roots. Leaves 

 two, near the base of the stem, obovate, dark glossy green, 4 to 8 inches 

 long and 2 to 4 inches wide, clammy to the touch; the three to ten flowers 

 in a terminal spike, each flower about 1 inch long, violet-purple mixed with 

 lighter purple and white, the subtending bracts sheathing the ovaries; 

 sepals united above forming a hood; petals connivent under the sepals and 

 more or less attached to them; lip whitish, wavy, produced into an obtuse 

 spur, about as long as the petals; column short, scarcely extending above 

 the base of the lip, violet on the back. 



In rich woods, New Brunswick to Ontario, Dakota, Georgia, Kentucky, 

 Missouri and Nebraska. Flowering in May and June or as late as July in 

 the extreme northern part of its range. 



Tall Leafy Green Orchis 



Li Din orchis hyperborea (Linnaeus) Rydberg 



Plate 37a 



A rather inconspicuous orchis with small flowers, the stem usually 

 stout, 10 inches to 3 feet high. Leaves lanceolate, pointed, 3 to 10 inches 

 long, one-half to if inches wide. Flowers numerous in a narrow terminal 

 spike, small, greenish or greenish yellow; sepals and petals free and spread- 

 ing, ovate, blunt; lip entire, lanceolate, blunt, about one-fourth of an 

 inch long; spur about as long as the lip, blunt, slightly incurved or often 

 thickened at the end (clavate). 



In bogs, wet woods and swamps, Greenland to Alaska, New Jersey, 

 Colorado and Oregon. Flowering in May and June or later in cold bogs 

 and woods of the north. 



