ORCHIDACE.E. ( ORCHIS FAMILY.) 499 



spur, the pollen thus carried from one blossom to another) : otherwise nearly as 

 in true Orchis : the lateral sepals, however, mostly spreading. (Name from 

 habena, a thong or rein, in allusion to the shape of the lip or spur of some 

 species.) — Platanthera, named primarily for the species with the glands 

 and bases of the anther-cells widely divergent, and Gymnadenia, where 

 these are approximate, are found to afford no wholly fixed or clear practical 

 distinctions. Accordingly, in this edition, our species are restored to the 

 older genus. 



§ 1. GYMNADENIA, R. Br. Cells of the anther parallel, and approximate., 

 their glands therefore contiguous. [Appendages of tlie stigma in our species two 

 or three and much developed, oblong or club-shaped.) 



1. H. tridentata, Hook. Stem slender (6'- 12' high), with a single 

 oblong or oblanceolate obtuse leaf below, and 2 or 3 small ones like bracts 

 above ; spike 6- 12-flowered, oblong; flowers greenish or whitish, very small ; lip 

 wedge-oblong, truncate and with 3 short teeth at the apex ; the slender and slightly 

 club shaped spur curved upwards, longer than the ovary. (Orchis tridentata, 

 Muhl. Gymnadenia tridentata, Lindl.) — Wet woods : common northward and 

 along the Alleghanies. June, July. — Eoot of few fleshy fibres. Appendages 

 of the stigma (sterile stamens?) three, oblong-club-shaped, one outside each 

 orbicular gland and one between them, rising as high as the anther-cell, their 

 cellular viscid summits receiving pollen in the unopened flower, and penetrated 

 by pollen-tubes ! 



2. H. Integra, Spreng. Stem several-leaved (15' high), the 1 or 2 lower 

 leaves elongated, oblong-lanceolate, acute; the others becoming smaller and 

 bract-like ; spike densely many-flowered, oblong-cylindrical ; flowers orange-yel- 

 low, small ; lip ovate, entire or slightly crenulate or wavy, shorter than the awl- 

 shaped descending spur. (Orchis Integra & flava, Nutt. H. Ellidttii, Beck. 

 Gymnadenia flava, Lindl.) — Wet pine barrens of New Jersey, Virginia, and 

 southward. July. — Root of very fleshy fibres, one or two of them tuber-like. 

 Appendages of the stigma two, lateral, oblong, fleshy : rostellum or middle 

 appendage narrow. 



§ 2, PERTH/ARIA, Lindl. Cells of the anther nearly parallel, separated by a 

 broadish connective, narrowed towards the base, the margins of which are ex- 

 tended so as to form the sides of a deep oblong groove or cavity (more than semi- 

 circular in cross-section), which is lined by the dilated orbicular and incurved gland, 

 (Flowers small, greenish, slender-spurred.) 

 ■ 3. H. Virescens, Spreng. Leaves ovate-oblong or oblong-lanceolate 

 the uppermost linear-lanceolate and pointed, passing into the bracts of thw 

 elongated raceme ; petals ovate ; flowers dull green ; lip furnished with a tooth 

 on each side and a strong nasal protuberance in the middle of the base, oblong, 

 truncate-obtuse, about the length of the sepals, half the length of the slen- 

 der club-shaped spur. (Orchis flava, L.l but the flowers are not yellow. O. 

 virescens, Muhl., Willd. O. fusce'scens, Pursh., not of L. O. herbiala, Pursh. 

 O. bidentata, Ell. 0. scutellata, Nutt. H. herbiola, R. Br. H. flava, Gray. 

 Platanthera flava, Gray. ) — Wet places : common. June, July. — Stem 10' - 20' 

 high ; the spike at first dense, with the bracts longer than the flowers, at length 



