OUR NATIVE ORCHIDS. 



519 



-well applied, but no one will be at a loss to under- 

 stand why this pretty orchid is called "Rattlesnake- 

 Plantain." To the popular fancy, there is something 

 undeniably suggestive of the "rattler" — or some snake 

 of his kind — in the appearance of its fleshy root-stock, 

 creeping on the surface of the ground, and its flat clus- 

 ters of dark green leaves, lacad with a curious net-work 

 of white veins, and cold and slippery as the serpent's 

 handsome skin. Their shape is much like that of the 

 common plantain-leaves, and the flower-stalk, with its 

 thick spike of pearly-lipped blossoms, by some exercise 

 of imagination, may be supposed to continue the resem- 

 blance to this plant. 



There is a smaller and more slender species, Goodycra 

 refciis, blooming later, and found more commonly 

 among the mountains. Still another, G. JMenziesii, is 

 peculiar to the woods of the northwest. It differs from 

 the typical plant in some respects, having a loose, one- 

 sided spike of flowers, and the leaves but little, or not at 

 all, variegated with white. This has been taken by some 

 botanists for a form of spiranthes, to which genus the 

 goodyeras are closely allied. 



Plants of parasitic habit are rare in the orchid family, 

 the numerous representatives of the order, which, in 

 tropical regions, are found attached to the branches and 

 trunks of trees, being simply air-plants, and taking noth- 

 ing of their sustenance from the trees to which they 

 cling. But we have a genus including several species 

 which are supposed to be root-parasites — the genus coral- 

 lorhiza, or coral-root. The common species, and the 

 largest of the genus, sometimes 18 inches high, native to 

 most parts of the country, and strictly an American 

 plant, is the curious Corallorhiza multijlora (fig. 2, page 

 520). It is destitute of proper leaves, and is all of one 

 color — stems and flowers both being purplish brown. It 

 grows in dry woods — in oak woods most commonly — 

 and may be found in bloom from July until September, 

 though it is apt to escape the notice of one who is not a 

 close observer, because its dull hue is so much like that 

 of the weed-stalks and withered grass around it. 



When it does attract attention, however, the strange, 

 uncanny-looking plant is sure to be an object of lively 

 interest, and we suspect at once that its purple stem 

 and dark, spotted flowers are not its worst point of dif- 

 ference from ordinary and respectable neighbors. If 

 we regard it from a moral point of view, our queer 

 orchid is decidedly not respectable. It is a kind of vege- 

 table vampire, drawing nourishment from the life of 

 other plants. By digging down to its base, we shall find 

 a thick bunch of brittle sprouts and protuberances, 

 which resemble nothing so much as a mass of branch- 

 ing white coral. They certainly do not look like roots — 

 and they are not. Of real roots, the plant has none. 

 Usually, there will be found a quantity of the fibrous 

 roots of some other plant, dry and thin, as if sucked of 

 all their juices, interlaced and twisted in the coral-like 

 root-stock from which the corallorhiza takes its name. 

 From these dry roots C. miillijlora has mercilessly drawn 

 the sap for its own nutriment. 



The smaller members of the genus, which flowers 

 quite early in the season, are rare in New England 

 woods ; and another large species, with larger flowers 

 than those of C. multijlora, belongs entirely to the 

 western states. Frances Wilson. 



CULTURE OF OUR NATIVE ORCHIDS. 

 Most of our native orchids like shade, and for that 

 reason they are useful for shady corners where many 

 other flowers would not flourish. In growing them in 

 the garden, it is best to have plenty of leaf-mold mixed 

 with the soil and packed around the plants. They like 

 rich soil, and must have plenty of water to drink. I have 

 tried keeping the plants moist with sphagnum, but the 

 birds would use that material for nest-building. 



Early in May we find, in rich woods, Cypripcdium 

 spectabile with its pur- 

 ple and white flowers. 

 It succeeds well when 

 transplanted to th( 

 den. Twenty or thirty 

 plants, when massed to- 

 gether, make a fine dis- 

 play. At a little distance 

 they look 1 i k 

 cinths. Most 



Fig. 9 —False Spikei 



rage 516.) 



plants have black spots on the leaves soon after they 

 come up. These spots spread, and the plants, when 

 they have flowered, die off entirely, but come up all 

 right the next year. I think ants may cause the trouble, 

 for some plants that are in another part of the yard. 



