THE BIRD’S-NEST ORCHID— continued. 
To Lyte and others the roots suggest the equally loosely-plaited nest of the 
goose, and both its Greek generic name, from veorria, neottia , a bird’s-nest, and the 
Latin specific name Nidus-avis refer to the same structure. As Parkinson puts it, 
“ The French call it Nid doiicau , the Germanes Marghcn drehcn, the Dutch Vogelsnest % and we in English Birds nest or 
Goose nest, from the platting of the rootes like the stickes and strawes in a Crowes nest.’* 
These roots have the very unusual habit of throwing off their root-caps, forming 
terminal buds and developing into shoots. This confusion to what many might think 
a fundamental morphological distinction has been also observed in the Aroid genus 
Anthurium. 
The stem is solitary, erect, and unbranched, angular, hollow, and glabrous, of the 
brittle, juicy character common in shoots growing in shade, and about a foot high. 
As the plant is independent both of solar energy and of atmospheric carbon- 
dioxide it has no need of leaves. The potential energy of the complex organic 
compounds received by means of its mycorhiza takes the place of light ; therefore 
there is neither chlorophyll nor photosynthesis. The formation of its protoplasm can 
take place in any part of the plant, so that the main necessity for a transpiration 
current is removed. As in parasites, therefore, the leaves are represented only by a 
few sheathing membranous scales, which are, perhaps, merely vestigial. 
The flowers are stalked and form a dense, cylindrical raceme, with small, oblong 
bracts. The sepals and petals are slightly incurved, and the lip is pouched at its base 
and cordately lobed at its apex. The nectariferous groove of Listera is replaced by a 
number of glands in the saccate region. The column is longer than in Listera , has 
no hood-like termination, and has a blunt rostellum, while the powdery yellow 
pollen-masses are the only relief to the monotonous brown hue of the whole plant. 
Flies seem to be the chief agents of pollination, and the mechanism is apparently 
much as in Listera. 
Our less common Orchids are puzzlingly capricious in their numbers. In 
certain Beech-woods we can generally be certain to find a few specimens of this bizarre 
species in flower in June, or possibly in May or July ; but on one memorable 
occasion we found a recently cut coppice, covering a good many acres, in which Bird’s- 
nest Orchids were all but as abundant as are Blue-bells. Though the spot has been 
oft revisited, however, that sight of forty years ago has never been repeated. 
