Orchis Family (Orchidaceæ)
This is a large family composed of herbaceous perennials with tuberoid roots or corms. The perianth is composed of six divisions, the three outer being sepals (two of which are often united) and the three inner ones petals, the lower one of which, termed the lip, differs in form from the others.
Yellow Lady’s Slipper (Cypripedium parviflorum) has usually one, but sometimes three, flowers at the summit of a leafy stem 7 to 20 in. high. The inflated lip is bright yellow, slipper-shaped, and with a rounded orifice open near the base. The two lateral petals are brownish; exceedingly twisted. The broad, bright-green leaves are very prominently ribbed lengthwise, pointed and alternately sheathing the stem. This is one of the northerly species, being found along the northern border of the United States and southern Canada. It grows in colonies and flowers from May to July, in rich woods or bogs.
Showy Lady’s Slipper (Cypripedium hirsutum) is a magnificent orchid, usually regarded as the most beautiful of the genus. It is of imposing dimensions and has large, fragrant flowers.
The inflated lip is large and balloon-like, about 2 in. in length; white, with crimson-magenta blotches and streaks on the front edge; the sepals are round-ovate and the petals oblong, both pointed and both greenish-white in color. The leafy stem, that bears at its summit the solitary blossom, is from 1 to 2 feet in height. Found locally from Newfoundland to Minn. and southward to Ga. and Mo., flowering in rich woods during June and July.
Small White Lady’s Slipper (Cypripedium candidum). The flower of this species is of the same size and shape as that of the yellow variety, but the lip is pure white outside and striped with purple inside at the base; the two lateral sepals and the two petals are ovate-lanceolate, greenish, spotted with brown. It is a single-flowered species with numerous leaves. It is found in swamps from N. Y. to Minn. southward.
Pink Lady’s Slipper; Moccasin Flower (Cypripedium acaule) has solitary flowers surmounting a scape from 8 to 12 in. high; lip large, drooping pink, with a slit in front, instead of a circular opening as in the others. It frequents dry woods and may be found from southern Canada southward.
Although this is the most common of the Lady’s Slippers, it is no less beautiful than the others. The flower of the present species is a very ingenious contrivance; it is fertilized by the common bumblebee. The only entrance is through the fissure in the front; it requires considerable pressure to force his burly frame through, but at length he succeeds and the aperture closes behind him. After eating his fill he takes the easiest way out, toward the base where he can see two spots of light. As he forces his way through the narrow passage he comes in contact with a sticky stigma, armed with incurving hairs which remove any pollen he may have on his back; as he continues his struggle out he reaches an anther blocking the passage and waiting to clap its load of pollen on his back.
(A) Green Wood Orchis (Habenaria clavellata) has from three to sixteen inconspicuous greenish flowers in a loose spike at the top of a stem from 6 to 18 in. high; lip oblong and with three teeth; spur long, slender, and curved upward and to one side. One or two oblong-lanceolate leaves with obtuse tips clasp the stem near the base while several small bracts alternate along it. Grows in bogs from Newfoundland to Minn. and southward.
(B) Green-fringed Orchis (Habenaria flava) is a common green orchis (formerly virescens). The lower leaves are oblong-lanceolate, while the upper ones are linear, diminishing in size and passing into the flower bracts. The flower lip is square-ended and toothed; spur slender and about the length of the flower. In the whole U. S. and southern Canada we may find this species growing in bogs.
Habenaria bracteata is similar to flava, but the flower bracts are large, being from two to four times the length of the flowers. N. S. to Alaska and south through the U. S.
(A) Yellow-fringed Orchis (Habenaria ciliaris) is an attractive and rather common orchis with a tall leafy stem from 12 to 24 in. high. The spike is very closely set with flowers having rounded petals, fringed lips, and slender spurs about an inch in length. The leaves are lanceolate, gradually diminishing in size as they approach the spike and passing into the flower bracts. Found from Me. to Mich. and southward.
(B) Hooker’s Orchis (H. Hookeri) has a leafless scape from 6 to 12 in. high, at the base of which are two broad, oval, shining, deep-green leaves. The ten to twenty flowers are yellowish-green; lip lanceolate and sharply pointed, less than half an inch long; slender spur about one inch long. Flowers during June and July in woods from Me. to Minn. and south to N.C.
Round-leaved Orchis (H. orbiculata) is similar to Hookeri; the lip is oblong, obtuse, and about the same length as the spur. The two basal leaves are almost round. It is common in rich woods from Labrador to Alaska and southward.
(A) Ragged-fringed Orchis (Habenaria lacera) does not attract our attention because of its beauty, for its flowers are rather inconspicuous in color. They are, however, remarkable for the peculiarly cut and slashed lip, it being divided apparently with no regard for method or symmetry. The greenish-white flowers are in a dense many-flowered raceme at the summit of a leafy stem from 10 to 20 inches high. The leaves are oblong-lanceolate, diminishing in size to the flower bracts as they reach the raceme. This species is not uncommon in swamps from Newfoundland to Minn. and southward.
(B) White-fringed Orchis (H. blephariglottis) has a densely flowered raceme or spike similar to that of the yellow-fringed species, but the flowers are pure white; the lip is not divided but is copiously fringed; lateral sepals rounded, upper ones elliptical and concave; spur nearly an inch long. Leaves lanceolate and gradually diminishing in size as they alternate to the top of the stem. In July and August you may find this species flowering throughout the United States.
(A) Large Purple-fringed Orchis (Habenaria fimbriata) is the largest and perhaps the most beautiful of the genus. The pale purple flowers are nearly twice as large as those of the last species; the lip is more deeply fringed. The densely flowered spike is about two inches in diameter and often is twelve inches long. The leafy stem attains heights of from 1 to 5 feet. It is a magnificent plant, the sight of which is well worth the inconveniences necessary to visit its haunts. It grows in swamps throughout the U. S. and southern Canada.
(B) Small Purple-fringed Orchis (H. psycodes) has pale purplish flowers in a dense cylindrical spike terminating in a leafy stem, about 1 or 1½ feet tall. The spreading flower-tip is 3-parted and fringed; sepals rounded, petals spatulate and slightly toothed. The leaves are lanceolate and, like those of the fringed orchids, grow smaller as they approach the top of the stem. Flowers in July and August in wet meadows or swamps, from Newfoundland to Manitoba and southward.
(A) Calopogon; Grass Pink (Calopogon pulchellus) is an exquisite orchid with a loose raceme of four to twelve delicate pink flowers at the top of a scrape ranging from 6 to 15 in. long. The flowers are apparently upside down as the lip is at the top; it is narrow at the base but broadens into a broad hooked tip, crested on the underside. A single grass-like leaf sheathes the flower scape near its base, as it rises from the solid bulb. It grows in deep swamps and bogs, from Newfoundland to Minn. and south to the Gulf, flowering in June and July.
(B) Arethusa; Indian Pink (Arethusa bulbosa) has a solitary magenta-pink blossom topping its slender scape that rises from 5 to 10 in. in height. The petals and sepals are similar in shape and in their proper positions at the top of the flower; the lip rises, then abruptly turns downward, broadens and is adorned with three to five yellow and white crests; margin of lip wavy and sometimes spotted with crimson. From Newfoundland to Minn. and south to Pa. and Mo., Arethusa has been found blooming in swamps during May and June.
(A) Pogonia; Snake-mouth (Pogonia ophioglossoides). Snake-mouth is delicate, pure pink in color, and slightly fragrant. Its pollen is not in stemmed masses but is showered on the back of a visiting insect as he backs out of the flower. The stem is from 8 to 13 inches high, bearing at its top a single flower; sepals and petals are similar in shape; the lip is spatulate, prominently crested with yellow and white, and toothed and lacerated. About midway of the flower stem is a single oval leaf and just below the flower is a smaller bract-like one. Pogonia grows in swamps from Newfoundland to Minn. and southward to the Gulf of Mexico, flowering during June and July.
(B) Nodding Pogonia (P. trianthophora) has a leafy stem from 2 to 8 inches high. From two to eight small oval leaves alternately clasp the stem; the flowers, which number from one to six, appear singly from the axils of the upper leaves, nodding on slender peduncles; they are small, magenta-pink, and with ovate, three-lobed lips. It is locally distributed from Me. to Wisc. and southward.
(A) Whorled Pogonia (Pogonia verticillata) has a single flower on a long stem, 8 to 12 in. high; the sepals are greenish-yellow, long, linear, with the edges rolled or folded together; the petals are oblong-lanceolate and purple; the lip is also purple, wedge-shaped, three-lobed and with a hairy crest, down the middle. Five lanceolate and stemless leaves are in a whorl about the stem just below the flower. It is a peculiar, inconspicuous plant found locally in moist woods from Me. to Wisc. and southward.
(B) Showy Orchis (Orchis spectabilis) is a charming early-blooming orchid found in flower from April to June in moist woods, often under hemlock trees. Two broad, ovate, deeply ribbed, beautiful leaves sheath the flower scape at its base. The four to twelve flowers are loosely racemed at the top of the scape which is from 5 to 10 in. high. The magenta-pink petals and sepals are united to form a hood; the lip, curving abruptly downward, is broadly ovate and white; each flower has a short spur and is bracted. This species is found throughout the U.S.
(A) Rattlesnake Plantain (Epipactis pubescens) is a common orchid having beautiful leaves, radiating from the fleshy, creeping rootstalk. The scape is 6 to 15 in. high and carries at its top densely flowered sepals and petals united to form a hood. It is found in the whole of the U. S., flowering in July and August.
(B) Ladies Tresses (Spiranthes cernua) is so named because of the braided arrangement of its flowers. The leaves are few, grass-like, sheathing the scape near its base. The scape is 6 to 15 in. high, has several small bracts, and ends in a 2- or 3-ranked spiral raceme of white or creamy flowers; petals and upper sepal joined, lateral sepals lanceolate; lip ovate-oblong with a rough tip. Common in moist fields or woods from Me. to Minn. and southward.
Slender Ladies Tresses (S. gracilis) is slender, has its flowers in a single-ranked 1-sided or slightly twisted raceme; lip green, with a white wrinkled margin. Leaves small, ovate basal. Found in dry ground from N. S. to Manitoba and southward.
(A) Heart-leaved Twayblade (Listera cordata) belongs to a genus containing five species.
Like most of the orchids, they are largely or wholly dependent upon insect aid for fertilization. The weight or shock of an alighting insect on the broad lip causes a small gland within the flower to rupture and cover the pollen, just below, with a sticky fluid that causes it to adhere to the head or body of the insect and thus be transferred to the next flower.
The stem of this species is from 3 to 10 in. high. At the top is a few-flowered raceme; the sepals and petals are similar and spreading; the lip is drooping, longer, two-cleft and madder-purple in color. This species flowers during June and July in swampy woods from N. J. to Colo. and northward to the Arctic coast.
(B) Twayblade (Liparis lilifolia) although having the same common name, is of a different genus. It is a more attractive plant, having two broad basal leaves and larger flowers with a broad ovate lip. It grows in woodland from Me. to Minn. and southward.