270 



ORCHIDACEjE. 



CORALLORHIZA. 



Bor.-Am. 3. p. 194. C. innata, Nutt. gen. 2. p. 194 ; Ell. sk. 2. p. 504, not of R. Br. 



Root as in the preceding. Scape 9 - 15 inches high, stout, dull brown and purplish. 

 Flowers nearly twice as large as in the preceding, purplish brown. Pedicels 1-2 lines long, 

 with short obtuse bracts at the base. Sepals lanceolate. Lip whitish, irregularly spotted 

 with purple, very unequally 3-lobed, the lateral lobes tooth-like. Spur a manifest little 

 protuberance. Capsules large, pendulous. 



Woods, in rich soil : the most common species in New-York. Fl. Middle of July - Sep- 

 tember. Fr. October. 



3. APLECTRUM. Nutt. gen. 2. p. 197 (subgenus of Corallorhiza), and Jour. acad. 



Phil. 3. p. 139. PUTTY-ROOT. 

 [From the Greek, a, without, and pkktron, a spur.] 

 Petals and sepals nearly equal. Lip unguiculate, not produced at the base. Column free ; 

 the anther situated a little below the summit. Pollen-masses 4, oblique, lenticular. — 

 Pseudobulbs 2-4, connected. Leaf solitary, radical. Scape sheathed. Flowers ra- 

 cemose. 



1. Aplectrum hyemale, Nutt. (Plate CXXVII.) Adam 8$ Eve. Putty-root. 



Nutt. gen. I. c, and in jour. acad. 1. c. ; Torr. compend. p. 322 ; Beck, hot. p. 346 ; 

 Darlingt. jl. Cest. p. 511 ; Hook. fl. Bor.-Am. 2. p. 194. Cymbidium hyemale, Willd. sp. 

 4. p. 107 ; Pursh, fl. 2. p. 593. Corallorhiza hyemalis, Bart. fl. N. Am. 2. t. 52. 



Pseudobulbs roundish, commonly 2, but sometimes 3 or 4 and rarely as many as 5, con- 

 nected in a string by a thick fibre. Leaf 4-6 inches long and 1^-3 inches wide, elliptical, 

 acute, petiolate, plaited and marked with numerous prominent nerves which converge at each 

 end : petiole inserted on the summit of the bulb. Scape 12-15 inches high, arising from 

 the side of the bulb, with 3 rather loose acute sheaths, purplish. Flowers 10 - 20 in a loose 

 raceme, of a dull yellowish brown mixed with purple : pedicels with small lanceolate bracts 

 at the base. Sepals and petals linear-oblong. Lip shorter than the petals, 3-lobed, obtuse : 

 middle lobe undulate and crenulate on the margin ; the palate prominently ridged, white 

 speckled with purple. Column slightly curved, shorter than the lip. Lid of the anther 

 roundish, caducous. 



Woods, in rich vegetable mould : rare. Western and northern part of the State (Dr. Gray 

 6f Dr. Bradley) ; Washington county (Dr. M. Stevenson) ; north part of Westchester county, 

 near Long Island Sound (Dr. Mead). Fl. middle of May. Fr. October. A new bulb, which is 

 connected with the preceding one by a thick fibre, is produced every year, and the old usually 

 remains till a third bulb is formed at the end of the season, when the first withers away ; 

 but sometimes they last for several years. The new leaf is formed in midsummer, remains 

 through the winter, and withers away about the time of flowering. The bulbs contain a large 

 quantity of viscid matter, which does not, however, answer as a cement, as asserted by Pursh. 



