
ORCHID FAMILY. Orchidaceae. 
There are several kinds of Corallorrhiza, widely dis- 
tributed in the north temperate zone and growing in dense 
woods; pinkish or straw-colored plants, more or less 
parasitic, with large roots resembling branches of coral; 
the leaves all reduced to sheathing, papery scales; the 
flowers in terminal racemes, without bracts, on short 
pedicels, which turn down in fruit, mostly with a short 
spur, the sepals and petals about equal, the upper ones 
curving in. 
, The curious knobby rootstock, shaped 
= ea like a bit of coral, gives the name to this 
multiflora strange and rather unwholesome looking 
Reddish-yellow plant. From living on decayed vegetation 
Summer it has lost its green leaves, and has only a 
Wash., Oreg., 
Cal., Utah few papery sheaths in their place, and the 
thick, translucent stem is pale and smooth, 
from one to two feet tall, pink at the base, shading to 
golden-brown towards the top. The flowers, less than 
half an inch across, are usually yellow, with reddish-brown 
tips, and the white, three-lobed lip is spotted with purple. 
The buds are yellow and brown and the whole color effect 
is very pretty, as if the plant were trying to match the 
russet tints of the floor of the forest. The flowers vary 
from several to many and grow in a long cluster, hanging 
down when their seeds begin to ripen. This is widely 
distributed, growing also in the East, but nowhere common. 
_ This is a similar plant, but handsomer, 
' with much larger flowers, duller in coloring 
Corallcrrhisa : 
Bizelowii and striped not spotted. Instead of a 
Reddish-yellow spur the base of the sepals is swollen over 
Summer the ovary, which develops gradually into 
te a an oblong fruit to which the flower still 
7 clings, so that the older flowers, on the 
lower part of the stalk, give an odd effect of having long, 
swollen necks. The seeds are small and numerous. 
There are other kinds, similar in general effect. 
Coral-root 
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