Orchidaceae
(Orchid Family.)
Parallel veined leaves. Lowest petal spurred. Pollen powdery or viscid, in masses on minute stalks. Stigma a viscid hollow in front of the stamens and style which are united into a central column. A most interesting family, nearly all of them require help of some insect to enable them to produce seed. The sticky pollen masses adhere to the butterfly when it goes in search of nectar and are then deposited on the stigma of the next flower it goes to, and fertilise it. Nearly all the plants resemble some member of the animal kingdom, such as the monkey, bee, an, etc.
Cypripedium Acaule.---Lady’s Slipper. Large pink flowers. Lip of corolla inflated, 8 to 12 inches high. Flower stalk naked 1-flowered. Two leaves at the base. In woods under evergreens.
Habenaria Albida.---Scent Bottle. Flowers greenish white and fragrant. Marshy places.
Habenaria Dilatata. Tall. Leaves narrow. Flowers white Spur short. Conspicuous beak between bases of anther cells. Bogs.
Habenaria Psycodes.---Purple fringed orchis. Lip fan-shaped. Flowers purple. Spur long and curving, somewhat thickened downward. Lip spreading broad, wedge-shaped, many-cleft into a short fringe. Flowers 4 to 10. Wet meadows and bogs.
Habenaria Blephariglottis.---White fringed orchis. Rather tall, leafy. Flowers white in a spike. Petals slightly cut at the apex. Margins with an irregular hair-like fringe. Spurs long.
Habenaria Obtusata.---Flowers greenish white. Spur not longer than the lip. Upper sepal very broad and rounded, almost oblong. One oval leaf.
Goodyera Pubescens.---Rattle Snake plaintain. Leaves marked with white, flowers small, greenish white, 5 to 8 inches high.
Listera Cordata.---Twayblade. Sepals and petals nearly alike. Stem bears a pair of opposite sessile leaves in the middle and a spike of small greenish flowers, 4 to 8 inches high.
Arethusa Bulbosa.---A short scape from a globular solid bulb, terminated by a single rose-purple flower. One leaf hidden on the side of the scape protruded after flowering.
Pogonia Ophioglossoides.—Flower pale rose-color. Sweet scented, 6 to 9 inches high. One oval leaf near the middle and a smaller one or bract near the terminal flower.
Calopogon Pulchellus.---Scape about 1 feet high, 2 to 6-flowered. Lip as if hinged at the insertion, beautifully bearded with white yellow, and purple hairs. Flowers pink purple. These last three grow in woods on Old Petty Harbor Road.
Mycrostylis Ophioglossoides.---Adder’s mouth. Small plants. Bulbs producing a simple stem. One leaf near the middle of the stem, clasping. Flowers a short raceme, minute greenish.
