WESTERN RATTLE SNAKE PLANTAIN 



Veramium decipiens (Hooker) Piper 



The common name applied to this plant refers to the resemblance 

 of the beautiful white veinings of the leaves to the markings on a 

 rattlesnake. It seems a pity to be obliged to include the word "plan- 

 tain" in its name, however, for it is not in any way related to the weeds 

 to which this name applies, being instead a delicate orchid. The tech- 

 nical name of the genus is not used in all books, some authors pre- 

 ferring to substitute Epipactis or Goodyera. The rosette of leaves is more 

 conspicuous than the flowers, which are borne, usually, on one side 

 of a stout stem. The plant loves decaying wood, and it grows fre- 

 quently under evergreen trees where the air is cool and damp, though 

 the soil is dry. 



Western rattlesnakeplantain occurs from the mountains of New 

 Mexico and California northward to British Columbia and sparingly 

 eastward to the Great Lakes region, and even to northern Maine and 

 Quebec. 



We found it in the Selkirk Mountains twenty miles beyond Gla- 

 cier, British Columbia, at an altitude of 3,000 feet. 



PLATE 350 



