Part 29

Even the limner’s art possesses no resources for reproducing colors of the flowers in all their varied tints and combinations, whether we view them in groups alternately blending their hues or whether arranged in festoons, each variety by itself.—PLINY, Natural History (23-79 A.D.).

Orchidaceæ

Orchid Family

ORCHIDACEÆ, Lindley, Natural System, 2d ed., p. 336. 1836.

=Perennial= plants arising from bulbs, corms, fibrous, or tuberous roots. =Stems= or =scapes= 2 inches to 3-4 feet high. =Leaves= parallel-veined, sheathing, and plicate, sometimes reduced to scales. =Flowers= perfect or irregular, solitary or in a spiked raceme, usually subtended by a leafy bract. =Perianth= consists of 6 segments. The =calyx=, or outer whorl, consisting of 3 parts (sepals); the =corolla=, or inner whorl, consisting of 3 parts (petals). The third petal is designated =labellum= (lip), or nectary, and is in orchids the most beautiful part, assuming grotesque shapes ornamented with spurs and fringes. The =stamens= and =pistils= are variously united with the style, forming an unsymmetrical column. =Anther=, 1, or in Cypripedium 2; 2-celled. =Pollen= in 2-8 pear-shaped, usually stalked masses (pollinia), united by elastic threads, the masses waxy or powdery, attached at the base to a viscid disk (gland). =Stigma=, a viscid surface, facing the labellum beneath the rostellum, or in a cavity between the anther-sacs (clinandrium). =Seed-capsule= (ovary) inferior, long and twisted, 3-angled, 1-celled. =Ovules= minute, spindle-shaped, and numerous; =embryo= fleshy. The colors of orchids are various and beautiful; their fragrance heavy and exquisite in several species. Orchids were known and designated by Linnæus in 1753 as Gynandrous, meaning “stamens and pistils united to the column.” There are about 410 genera and from 6,000 to 10,000 species, widely distributed throughout the damp and wooded regions of the world. More abundant in the humid atmosphere of the tropics, where many species are air-plants or epiphytes. The orchids of the temperate and sub-arctic regions are terrestrial, drawing their nourishment from the earth.

North American Orchids, North of Mexico 150-160 New England Orchids 48-56 Hoosac Valley Orchids 40-42

Genera of Orchid Family in New England

GENERA XV. SPECIES 56.

I. Cypripedium Linnæus, 1753—6 species. II. Orchis Linnæus, 1753—2 species. III. Habenaria Willdenow, 1805—18 species. IV. Pogonia Jussieu, 1789—4 species. V. Arethusa Linnæus, 1753—1 species. VI. Gyrostachys Persoon, 1807—6 species. (Spiranthes Richard, 1818.) VII. Listera R. Brown, 1813—3 species. VIII. Peramium Salisbury, 1812—4 species. (Goodyera R. Brown, 1813.) IX. Achroanthes Rafinesque, 1808—2 species. (Microstylis Nuttall, 1818.) X. Leptorchis Thouars, 1808—2 species. (Liparis Richard, 1818.) XI. Calypso Salisbury, 1807—1 species. XII. Corallorhiza R. Brown, 1813—4 species. XIII. Tipularia Nuttall, 1818—1 species. XIV. Limodorum Linnæus, 1753—1 species. (Calopogon R. Brown, 1813.) XV. Aplectrum Nuttall, 1818—1 species.

Cypripedium

Linnæus, 1753

LADY’S SLIPPER—MOCCASIN-FLOWER

English—Lady’s Slipper. Latin—Calceolus D. Mariæ, or Marianus. German—Frauenschuh, or Marienschuh. French—Sabot de la Vierge, or Soulier de Notre Dame. Italian—Pontoffala, or scarpa della Madonna. Algonquin Indian—Mawcahsun, or Makkasin-Flower. North American—Indian Moccasin-Flower.

The generic name, Cypripedium, comes from the Greek, referring to Κύπρις, a former name of Venus, the Divine Mother of the Romans before Christ, and πόδιον, signifying sock, or slipper.

=Glandular= pubescent plants. =Anthers=, 2. =Labellum= shoe-shaped, or conical. =Sepals= and =petals= similar in texture; lower sepals wholly or imperfectly united in all species save C. arietinum R. Brown. =Stem=, 6 inches to 3 feet high. =Flowers=, 1-4 in the Atlantic region and 1-12 in the Pacific region; pendulous, alternating in a bracted raceme. =Pollen= granulose, without caudicle or glands. =Fragrance= heavy, aromatic, or oily save in two exquisitely sweet species, C. parviflorum Salisbury, of the Atlantic region, and C. Montanum Douglas, of the Pacific slope. =Leaves=, 2-several, plicate, light green, somewhat resembling Hellebore foliage, with which plants the Cypripediums were early confused by the ancient herbalists. =Roots= fleshy, fibrous, with spicy, oily, or musk-like odor, used as a nervine. =Seed-capsule= long, three-angled; ovules numerous, minute, resembling saw-dust. Seedlings frequent in many stations. About 50 species for the world.

Continental Range—Throughout the conifer wooded and bogland regions from Alaska southward to Mexico. May-July.

North American species 13 New England species 6 Hoosac Valley species 5

New England species:

1. C. arietinum R. Brown, 1813. 2. C. reginæ Walter, 1788. (C. spectabile Salisbury, 1791.) 3. C. candidum Willdenow, 1805. 4. C. hirsutum Miller, 1768. (C. pubescens Willdenow, 1805.) 5. C. parviflorum Salisbury, 1791. 6. C. acaule Aiton, 1789.

This species is a native of the Rocky Mountain region, and is closely related to our eastern Fragrant Yellow Lady’s Slipper (Cypripedium parviflorum): these two Cypripediums being the only really fragrant species on the continent.]

1.—CYPRIPEDIUM ARIETINUM R. Brown, 1813

RAM’S-HEAD LADY’S SLIPPER—RAM’S-HEAD MOCCASIN-FLOWER

The specific name, arietinum, refers to the conical labellum resembling a ram’s head.

Small conifer bogland or damp woodland orchid, with fibrous roots. Rare. May 9th-August 1st.

=Flowers=, one, terminal, mottled dull purple and white. =Labellum= conical, ½-⅔ inch, prolonged at the apex into a reflexed spur. =Sepals= all free. =Petals= narrow, similar in color, and assuming the place of horns to the ram’s-head-shaped flower. =Stem= leafy, 6-12 inches high. =Leaves=, 3-4, dark apple-green; 2-4 inches wide, smooth, without hairs. =Seed-capsule= prominently ridged.

Continental Range—From Quebec, Ontario southward to North Haven, Connecticut, and Mt. Toby, Massachusetts; westward to Minnesota, the Great Lake region being the centre of distribution. Limited between the 40th-50th parallels.

New England Range—Maine, rather abundant; New Hampshire, rare; Vermont, abundant; Massachusetts, rare; Connecticut, very rare.

2.—CYPRIPEDIUM REGINÆ Walter, 1788