The Manual of the Botany of the Northern United States Part 164

-- 1. _The three sepals separate; stem leafy; flower solitary, drooping._

1. C. arietnum, R. Br. (RAM'S-HEAD L.) Stem slender (6--10' high); upper sepal ovate-lanceolate, pointed; the 2 lower and the petals linear and nearly alike (greenish-brown), rather longer than the red and whitish veiny lip (6" long), which is somewhat p.u.b.escent, especially within, and prolonged at the apex into a short blunt conical point; leaves 3 or 4, elliptical-lanceolate, nearly smooth.--Cold swamps and damp woods, Maine to N. Y., Mich. and Minn., and northward.

-- 2. _Two of the sepals united into one under the lip._

[*] _Stem leafy to the top, 1--3-flowered; lip slipper-shaped or roundish, much inflated, horizontal, and with a rounded open orifice._

[+] _Sepals and linear wavy-twisted petals brownish, pointed, longer than the lip._

2. C. candidum, Muhl. (SMALL WHITE LADY'S SLIPPER.) Slightly p.u.b.escent, 1-flowered; leaves lance-oblong, acute; petals and sepals greenish, purple-spotted; _sepals ovate-lanceolate; lip_ (not 1' long) _white_, striped with purple inside, flattish laterally, convex above; _sterile stamen lanceolate_.--Bogs, N. Y. and Penn. to Minn., Mo., and Ky.; rare.

May, June.

3. C. parviflrum, Salisb. (SMALLER YELLOW L.) Stem 1--2 high leaves oval, pointed; _sepals ovate or ovate-lanceolate; lip flattish from above, bright yellow_ (1' long or less); sterile stamen triangular.--Bogs and low woods, Newf. to Ga., west to Minn. and E. Kan.

May, June.--Flowers fragrant; sepals and petals more brown-purple than in the next, into which it seems to pa.s.s.

4. C. p.u.b.escens, Willd. (LARGER YELLOW L.) Stem 2 high, p.u.b.escent, as are the broadly oval acute leaves; _sepals elongated-lanceolate; lip flattened laterally_, very convex and gibbous above, 1--2' long, _pale yellow_.--Bogs and low woods; same range as the last.

[+][+] _Sepals and petals plane, rounded, white, not longer than the lip._

5. C. spectabile, Swartz. (SHOWY L.) Downy, 2 high; leaves ovate, pointed; sepals round-ovate or orbicular, rather longer than the oblong petals; _lip much inflated, white, pink-purple_ in front (1' long); sterile stamen heart-ovate.--Peat-bogs, Maine and W. New Eng. to Minn.

and Mo., and south in the mountains to N. C. July.--The most beautiful of the genus.

[*][*] _Scape naked, 2-leaved at base, 1-flowered; sepals and petals greenish, shorter than the drooping lip, which has a closed fissure down its whole length in front._

6. C. acaule, Ait. (STEMLESS L.) Downy; leaves oblong; scape 8--12'

high, with a green bract at top; sepals oblong-lanceolate, pointed, nearly as long as the linear petals; lip obovoid or oblong, rose-purple (rarely white), nearly 2' long, veiny; sterile stamen rhomboid.--Dry or moist woods; Newf. to N. C., west to N. Ind., Mich., and Minn. May, June.

ORDER 111. BROMELIaCEae. (PINE-APPLE FAMILY.)

_Herbs (or scarcely woody plants, nearly all tropical), the greater part epiphytes, with persistent dry or fleshy and channelled crowded leaves, sheathing at the base, usually covered with scurf; 6-androus_; the 6-cleft perianth adherent to the ovary in the PINE-APPLE, etc., or free from it in

1. TILLaNDSIA, L. LONG MOSS.

Perianth plainly double, 6-parted; the 3 outer divisions (sepals) membranaceous; the 3 inner (petals) colored; all connivent below into a tube, spreading above, lanceolate. Stamens 6, hypogynous! or the alternate ones cohering with the base of the petals; anthers introrse.

Ovary free; style thread-shaped; stigmas 3. Capsule cartilaginous, 3-celled, loculicidally 3-valved; the valves splitting into an inner and an outer layer. Seeds several or many in each cell, anatropous, club-shaped, pointed, raised on a long hairy-tufted stalk, like a coma.

Embryo small, at the base of copious alb.u.men.--Scurfy-leaved epiphytes.

(Named for _Prof. Tillands_ of Abo.)

1. T. usneodes, L. (COMMON LONG MOSS or BLACK MOSS.) Stems thread-shaped, branching, pendulous; leaves thread-shaped; peduncle short, 1-flowered; flower yellow.--East Sh.o.r.e, Va., south to Fla., and westward; growing on the branches of trees, forming long hanging tufts.

ORDER 112. HaeMODORaCEae. (BLOODWORT FAMILY.)

_Herbs, with fibrous roots, usually equitant leaves, and perfect 3--6-androus regular flowers, which are woolly or scurfy outside; the tube of the 6-lobed perianth coherent with the whole surface, or with merely the lower part, of the 3-celled ovary._--Anthers introrse. Style single, sometimes 3-partible; the 3 stigmas alternate with the cells of the ovary. Capsule crowned or enclosed by the persistent perianth, 3-celled, loculicidal, 3--many-seeded. Embryo small, in hard or fleshy alb.u.men. A small family; chiefly of the southern hemisphere.

[*] Ovary wholly adherent to the calyx-tube; style filiform; seeds peltate, amphitropous.

1. Lachnanthes. Stamens 3, exserted; anthers versatile. Leaves equitant.

[*][*] Ovary free except at the base; style 3-partible; seeds anatropous.

2. Lophiola. Stamens 6, on the base of the woolly 6-cleft perianth.

Leaves equitant.

3. Aletris. Stamens 6, in the throat of the warty-roughened and tubular 6-toothed perianth. Leaves flat, spreading.

1. LACHNaNTHES, L. RED-ROOT.

Perianth woolly outside, 6-parted down to the adherent ovary. Stamens 3, opposite the 3 larger or inner divisions; filaments long, exserted; anthers linear, fixed by the middle. Style thread-like, exserted, declined. Capsule globular. Seeds few on each fleshy placenta, flat and rounded, fixed by the middle.--Herb, with a red fibrous perennial root, equitant sword-shaped leaves, cl.u.s.tered at the base and scattered on the stem, which is hairy at the top and terminated by a dense compound cyme of dingy yellow and loosely woolly flowers (whence the name, from ?????, _wool_, and ?????, _blossom_).

1. L. tinctria, Ell.--Sandy swamps, near the coast, S. E. Ma.s.s., R. I., and N. J. to Fla. July--Sept.

2. LOPHOLA, Ker.

Perianth densely woolly, deeply 6-cleft; the divisions nearly equal, spreading, longer than the 6 stamens, which are inserted at their base.

Anthers fixed by the base. Capsule ovate, free from the perianth except at the base, pointed with the awl-shaped style, which finally splits into 3 divisions, one terminating each valve. Seeds numerous, oblong, ribbed, anatropous.--A slender perennial herb, with creeping rootstocks and fibrous roots, linear and nearly smooth equitant leaves; the stem leafless and whitened with soft matted wool toward the summit, as also the crowded or panicled cyme. Perianth dingy yellow inside; the lobes naked only toward the tip, each clothed with a woolly tuft near the base (whence the name, from ??fe???, _a small crest_).

1. L. aurea, Ker.--Boggy pine-barrens, N. J. to Fla. June--Aug.

3. aLETRIS, L. COLIC-ROOT. STAR-GRa.s.s.

Perianth cylindrical, not woolly, but wrinkled and roughened outside by thickly-set points which look like scurfy mealiness, the tube cohering below with the base only of the ovary, 6-cleft at the summit. Stamens 6, inserted at the base of the lobes; filaments and anthers short, included. Style awl-shaped, 3-cleft at the apex; stigmas minutely 2-lobed. Capsule ovate, enclosed in the roughened perianth; the dehiscence, seeds, etc., nearly as in Lophiola.--Perennial and smooth stemless herbs, very bitter, with fibrous roots, and a spreading cl.u.s.ter of thin and flat lanceolate leaves; the small flowers in a wand-like spiked raceme, terminating a naked slender scape (2--3 high). Bracts awl-shaped, minute. (??et???, a female slave who grinds corn; the name applied to these plants in allusion to the apparent mealiness dusted over the blossoms.)

1. A. farinsa, L. Flowers oblong-tubular, white; lobes lanceolate-oblong.--Gra.s.sy or sandy woods, Ma.s.s. to Fla., Ill., and Minn. July, Aug.

2. A. aurea, Walt. Flowers bell-shaped, yellow (fewer and shorter); lobes short-ovate.--Barrens, N. J. to Fla. July.

ORDER 113. IRIDaCEae. (IRIS FAMILY.)

_Herbs, with equitant 2-ranked leaves, and regular or irregular perfect flowers; the divisions of the 6-cleft petal-like perianth convolute in the bud in 2 sets, the tube coherent with the 3-celled ovary, and 3 distinct or monadelphous stamens, alternate with the inner divisions of the perianth, with extrorse anthers._--Flowers from a spathe of 2 or more leaves or bracts, usually showy. Style single, usually 3-cleft; stigmas 3, opposite the cells of the ovary, or 6 by the parting of the style-branches. Capsule 3-celled, loculicidal, many-seeded. Seeds anatropous; embryo straight in fleshy alb.u.men. Rootstocks, tubers, or corms mostly acrid.

[*] Branches of the style (or stigmas) opposite the anthers.

1. Iris. Outer divisions of the perianth recurved, the inner erect; stigmas petal-like.

[*][*] Branches of the style alternate with the anthers. Perianth regular.

2. Nemastylis. Stem from a coated bulb. Filaments united. Style-branches 2-cleft.

3. Belamcanda. Stems from a creeping rhizome. Filaments distinct.

Stigmas dilated.

4. Sisyrinchium. Root fibrous. Filaments united. Stigmas thread-like.