504 ORCHIDACE-ffi. (OKCHIS FAMILY.; 



Aspect of Goody era : structure of the flower nearly of Spiranthes, but the lip 



without caf/usities. 

 3. G. Meiizi^sii, Lindl. Leaves ovate-oblong, acute (2' -3' long), less 

 white-reticulated than the preceding, some not at all so; scape 9'- 12' high ; 

 flowers rather numerous in a looser often 1 -sided spike; flower-buds less pubes- 

 cent, elongated-ovate and pointed ; lip with the saccate-conduplicate lower por- 

 tion gradually tapering into the narrow barely spreading summit. (Spiran- 

 thes decipiens, Hook.) — Woods, Western New York to Michigan (confounded 

 with G. pubescens), Lake Superior, and far westward. July. 



4. SPIRANTHES, Richard. Ladies' Tresses. 



Flower somewhat ringent, oblique on the ovary ; the sepals and petals all 

 narrow, mostly erect or connivent, the three upper pieces sticking together more 

 or less, the two lower covering the base of the lip. Lip oblong, short-stalked or 

 sessile, the lower part involute around the column, and with a callous protuber- 

 ance on each side of the base ; the somewhat dilated summit spreading or re- 

 curved, crisped, wavy, or rarely toothed or lobed. Column short, oblique, 

 bearing the ovate stigma on the front, and the sessile or short-stalked (mostly 

 acute or pointed) 2-celled erect anther on the back. Pollen-masses 2 (one in 

 each cell), ovate, each 2-parted from the base (or even again divided) into thin 

 and tender plates of granular pollen united by elastic threads, their summits 

 together soon adhering to the narrow boat-shaped viscid gland of the stigma, 

 which is set in the slender or tapering thin process or beak terminating the 

 column, and is carried away on the proboscis of insects visiting the flower, 

 with the pollen, to be deposited upon the stigma of another flower. After the 

 removal of the gland, the beak is left as a 2-toothed or 2-forked tip. — Roots 

 clustered-tuberous : stem more or less naked above, leaf-bearing below or at the 

 base. Flowers small (ours all white or greenish-white), bent horizontally, 1-3- 

 ranked in a spike, which is commonly more or less spirally twisted (whence the 

 name, from o-neipa, a coil or curl, and uv 60s, flower.) 



* Flowers in 3 ranks, crowded in a close spike. (Leaves at the root and base of th\ 

 stem present at the flowering season.) 



1. S. Iatif61ia, Torr. Low; naked stem or scape 4' -9' high, smooth; 

 leaves all next the base, oblong or lance-oblong ( 1 ' - 3' long, 6" - 8" wide), 3 - 5-nerved, 

 contracted into a sheathing base ; spike narrow (l'-2' long), flowers small ; lip 

 quadrate-oblong, thin, wavy-crisped at the very obtuse or truncate apex, the 

 small callosities at the base oblong, marginal and adnate for their whole length ; 

 gland and beak of the stigma short. (S. plantaginea, Torr. in N. Y. FL, not 

 of Lindl S. aestivalis, Oakes, Cat.) — Moist banks, Vermont and N. New York 

 to Michigan, Penn. (near Lancaster, Prof. Porter), and Delaware, W. M. Canby. 

 June. — Perianth 2" -3" long; lip yellowish on the face, not contracted in the 

 middle nor the margins involute. 



2. S. Romanzoviana, Chamisso. Stem leafy below, and leafy -bractea 

 nbove (5' -15' high); leaves varying from oblong-lanceolate to grassy-linear; 

 spike dense, oblong or cylindrical (1'- 4' long) ; perianth curved and the sum- 

 mit manifestly ringent, the sepals and petals all connivent in the upper portion or 



