SHOWY ORCHIS 



Orchis spectabilis Linnaeus 



Although this orchid is known by the English equivalent of its 

 Latin name, showy orchis, the name is really not appropriate, for the 

 plant is far less conspicuous than some of its North American rela- 

 tives. It is known also as "pulpit-flower," because of the resemblance 

 of the mauve-colored arched petals to the sounding-board over a 

 pulpit. In a walk through the deep woods in early spring, our feet 

 rustling last year's fallen leaves, it is a pleasant surprise to chance upon 

 a group of plants of this shy beauty, the earliest of the orchids to 

 blossom. 



The flower is well adapted to insure cross-pollination by bumble- 

 bees, for not only is the lip or lower petal of just the size to enable 

 these insects to get a good hold upon it, but the spur, at the bottom 

 of which the nectar is contained, is exactly equal in length to the 

 bumblebee's tongue, so that smaller insects can not reach the nectar. 

 Finally, the anther is so situated that while the bee is busily engaged 

 in extracting the nectar, its head is smeared with the sticky pollen, 

 and as the bee enters the flower of another plant, this pollen is 

 rubbed off on the stigma, thus effecting cross-pollination. The waxy 

 flowers are borne on a short stem, arising between two bright green 

 leaves. 



Showy orchis is found from Georgia to Arkansas, and northward 

 to the Dakotas, Ontario, and New Brunswick. 



The specimen sketched grew near Washington, District of Co- 

 lumbia. 



PLATE 2.41 



