156 



THE XATIVE ORCHIDS OF NEW ENGLAND. 



found occasionally in New Hampshire, but is extremely 

 rare. 



Let us now take a trip to the Island of Nantucket. It 

 is a part of Massachusetts, though only visible from the 

 mainland on a very clear day, being twenty miles dis- 

 tant. We will take a stroll onto the moors, south of the 

 old town — long stretches of sand and grass — and take a 

 look about us. It is an unusual sight, even for a New 

 Englander. The country, once devoted to sheep-walks, 

 is now deserted, and occasionally you cross some deep 

 wheel-ruts, the only roads. They will take you across 

 the island if you follow them. Pine woods are visible 

 in the distance, set out long ago, but where we are 

 standing there is no tree ; all is flat and bare, with stunted 

 grass. To the east the country is rolling and covered 

 with bearberry [Arctosla phylos I'-.'a-uisi), and an occa- 

 sional flock of sheep dart away on seeing you. What 

 is this delicate little plant, which we quite overlooked at 

 first, growing here and there at our feet ; its little leaf- 

 less stalk scarcely six inches high, with a short spike of 

 minute white flowers ? It is the rare Spiranthes simplex, 

 or ladies' tresses, within our limits found only in south 

 New England. We dig a plant up carefully and its sol- 

 itary tuber proves that we are right. Its delicate flow- 

 ers will well repay an examination with the lens, and, 

 in this connection, we can give a hint as how to readily 

 distinguish it from its close relative, S. graci/is. This 

 latter species is common all through New England, and 

 will often be met with, not only in the woods, but along 

 the roadsides, its slender stalk standing boldly erect, 

 even to the height of eighteen inches. The upper sur- 

 face of its small lip is green, while that of S. simplex is 

 white. 6". graiilis has clustered roots. I have found 

 more than one tuber on S. siiiipLw, but this is un- 

 common. 



Our commonest species of ladies' tresses is, I think, 

 S. it-i-nua, a stouter plant than the above-mentioned, 

 from six inches to a foot and a-half in height. I saw a 

 wet field in Jaffrey, N. H., last September, white 

 with it. It has a not unpleasant odor. 5". Roiiianzop- 

 Jiiinij is not uncommon in north New England. S. lati- 

 folia and S. pi\riox are rare, and found only in wet 

 places. All the species of this genus much resemble 

 each other, 



Two species of twayblade, or listera, are found with 

 us. They are very retiring plants, averaging but six 

 inches in height, with exceedingly small, greenish or 

 brownish flowers in a spike, and a pair of leaves in the 

 middle of the stem. They love the deep, cold woods, 

 and are only noticed by the diligent searcher. L. conval- 

 larioides I have found in the rich shade about Willoughby 

 Lake. It is a northern plant with us, and creeps south 

 only along the mountains. L. cordata is a rarer plant, 

 though of wider range in New England, and is more 

 delicate than the former. 



Turn now into a large, moist meadow near Willoughby 

 Lake, and observe that odd little plant, some six inches 

 high, and often much less. That very small greenish 

 spike at the end is a multitude of the very minutest of 



flowers. A single leaf clasps the stem near the middle. 

 You will need a good lens and careful work to analyze 

 it, I assure you. It is the adder's mouth, a small plant, 

 buried under its scientific name, Murostyhs ophioglos- 

 soidcs. The generic name refers to its small style ; the 

 specific, to its resemblance to the adder's tongue, a plant 

 closely related to the ferns. It is found in wet places 

 throughout our states, but is far more common in the 

 northern parts. I have found it, at times, in very dry, 

 open, sunny spots. 



Climb now up the high ledges that overhang the lake. 

 We are in the region of the rarest and most attractive 

 plants, a rich field for the collector. Here grow the 

 little ferns, Woodsia glabella and Pellcea gracilis, the 

 leguminous Hedysaniin horeale, and others. But we are 

 not looking for these just now. Our box and press must 

 wait awhile, for we are hunting for the brother of our 

 adder's mouth, its only New England relative, M. moiio- 

 phyllos. Its single leaf is at the base of the stem, and we 

 shall not miss it. It is a rare plant, and in our states is 

 found only in the northern parts. A careful hunt in the 

 wet, shady crevices should reveal it, for I found on 

 July 22, 1885, beautiful little specimens which are now 

 close by me in my herbarium. I well remember the 

 spot ; for I lost my pet and only knife in a crevice of the 

 rocks close by. 



The name twayblade is applied to another genus of 

 orchids, of which we have two species, Idparis Lceselii 

 and L. liliifolia (Fig. 3). They somewhat resemble 

 each other, and have a pair of root-leaves and a scape, 

 three to eight inches high, bearing a raceme of small, 

 greenish flowers in the former, and purplish in the lat- 

 ter species. The former is the more northern plant, and 

 likes the bog for its home. It grows throughout New 

 England. . I have collected splendid fruiting specimens 

 at York, Maine. Its relative is a more southern plant 

 and is hardly found north of Boston. 



The crane-fly orchis [ Tipiilat ia discolor^ is very rare 

 in New England, but more abundant south. Its long 

 slender scape, from a foot to a foot and a-half high, ap- 

 pears in summer, its small green and purple flowers 

 delicately arranged in a raceme. In the autumn a sin- 

 gle leaf is produced at the base of the stem. The putty- 

 root (Aplec/riiin liiemale) acts in somewhat the same 

 way, producing a large leaf in summer, which lasts 

 through the winter, and early in the next summer sends 

 up its scape of brownish flowers. It is rare with us, and 

 I have never been fortunate enough to see it growing. 

 But its fruit (Fig. 4), as I have it in my herbarium, 

 must be an interesting object in the winter woods. 



But who can do justice in words to the dainty Calypso 

 horealis (Fig. 5), a rare and exquisitely delicate little 

 plant, from three to five inches high, with its single leaf 

 and purple, pink and yellow flower ! It is the only 

 species of the genus, and occurs in northern latitudes 

 quite round the globe, giving north New England a 

 taste of its beauty. Cold, damp shade it prefers, and 

 it carefully guards itself by planting its flowers here 

 and there singly in the bog, eluding the search of all 



