(63.) 
SPIRA'NTHES* *. 
Linnean Class and Order. Gyna'ndria f, Mona'ndria. 
Natural Order. Orchi'dea:. Juss. Gen. Plant, p. 64. — Or- 
chi'deas, Tribe Neottie'a;. Lindl. Syn. pp. 256 & 257; Introd. 
to Nat. Sy st. p.262. — Rich, by Macgilliv. p. 412. — Sm. Gram, of 
Bot. p. 81 ; Eng. FI. v. iv. p. 3. — Hook. FI. Scot. pt. ii. p. 187. 
Gen. Char. Perianthium ( calyx and corolla^) (tig. 2.) su- 
perior. Sepals 3 (fig. 3. b. b. b.), concave, egg-shaped, or spear- 
shaped, approaching, permanent, coloured, equal in length ; the 2 
lateral ones meeting under the nectary. Petals 2, (fig. 3. c. c.), 
oblong, upright, approaching under the upper sepal, and about the 
same length. Lip ( nectary of Linn.,) (fig. 3. d.) as long as the 
sepals, shovel-shaped, clawed, (unquiculate,) with 2 fleshy projec- 
tions at the base, entire. Anther (fig. 4. b.) roundish, parallel to the 
stigma, of 2 cells close together, depositing the obovate (inversely 
egg-shaped) masses of pollen (fig. 4. c.) upon the stigma. German 
(fig. 2.) inferior, inversely egg-shaped, with 3 furrows. Style or 
Column (fig. 5. a.) taper, club-shaped, distinct, with 2 teeth at the 
apex (fig. 4. d). Stigma prominent in front, globose, beaked. 
Capsule (fig. 6.) inversely egg-shaped, blunt, with 3 furrows, and 
3 blunt angles. Seeds very minute. 
The converging sepals and petals ; shovel-shaped, clawed, entire 
lip , with 2 fleshy projections at the base ; anther parallel with the 
stigma; the taper, club-shaped column, with 2 teeth at the apex; 
and the projecting beaked stigma, will distinguish this from other 
genera in the same class and order. 
Two species British. 
SPIRA'NTHES AUTUMNA'LIS. Ladies’ Traces, or Ladies’ 
Tresses. 
Spec. Char. Root-leaves oblong, somewhat stalked. Spike 
twisted, unilateral. Bracteas downy, tumid. Lip egg-shaped, entire. 
Spirdnth.es autumnalis, Richard, Mem. Mus. v. iv. p. 59. fide Gray. — 
Gray’s Mat. Air. v. ii. p. 208.— Lindl. Syn. p. 257. — Neottia spiralis, Sm. Eng. 
FI. v. iv. p. 35. — Hook. Brit. FI. p. 376. — l’erry’s PI. Varvicenses Selects, p. 
73. — Rev. G. E. Smith’s PI. of S. Kent, p.58. — FI. Devon, pp. 144 and 132. — 
Walk. FI. of Oxf. p. 257. — O' phrys spiralis, Linn. — Engl. Bot. t. 541. — Curt. 
FI. Bond. t. 270 — Huds. FI. Angl. (2nd ed ) p. 389. — Sm. FI. Brit. v. iii. p. 
934. — With. (7lh ed.) v. ii. p. 37. — Siblh. FI. Oxon. p. 12. — Abbot’s FI. Bedf. p. 
194. — Purt. Midi. FI. v.i. p. 425. v. iii. p.387. — Relh. FI. Cantab. (3rd ed.) p. 
363. — Orchis spiralis alba odorata, Ray’s Syn. p. 378. — Triorchis, Johuson’s 
Gerarde, p. 218. 
Localities. — In meadows and pastures on a chalky or gravelly soil ; also in 
wet boggy places. Mot uncommon in ENGLAND- — Oxfordshire ; On a dry 
Fig. 1. A Bractea or Floral leaf. — Fig. 2. Germen and Perianthium. — Fig. 3. 
The same spread open: a. the Germen; b. b. b. the Sepals ; c. c. the Petals ; 
d. the Lip — Fig. 4. Sepals, Petals, and Lip removed : a. Germen; b. Anther; 
c. Pollen-masses; d. Pointed summit of the Stigma. — Fig. 5. a. Style; b. Stigma. 
— Fig. 6. Capsule. — All, except fig. 6, more or less magnified. 
* From spier a, Gr. a screw, or any thing spirally twisted ; on account of the 
disposition of the flowers on their spike. Delicate little herbaceous plants with 
fibrous (or tuberous) roots, and generally white flowers, S. astivalis ( autumna- 
lis of Lind. Syn.) has the germs on the flower-stalks placed regularly one above 
another, somewhat resembling tresses of plaited hair ; whence its name of 
Ladies’ Traces or Tresses. Prof. Lindley, in Loud. Ency. of Plants, p. 755. 
t See O' phrys apifera, p 8. note t. 
} See Galanthus nivalis, p.33. note t. 
