_Orchid Family_
Perennial herbs, with corms, bulbs, or tuberous roots, sheathing entire
leaves, sometimes reduced to scales, the flowers perfect, irregular,
bracted, solitary, spiked or racemed. Perianth superior of 6 segments,
the 3 outer (sepals) similar or nearly so, 2 of the inner ones (petals)
lateral, alike; the third inner one (lip) dissimilar, often markedly
so, usually larger and often spurred; stamens and style variously
arranged. An extensive family with great diversity of flower form,
and habit of growth. Most abundant in the tropics, represented in the
region as follows:
Perfect anthers 2; lip large, sac-like. =Cypripedium.=
Perfect anther 1.
Plants saprophytic, without green herbage. =Corallorhiza.=
Plants with ordinary green herbage.
Flower and leaf solitary; root bulbous. =Cytherea.=
Flowers several to many in racemes.
Leaf only 1.
Flowers white with purple spots. =Orchis.=
Flowers greenish. =Lysiella.=
Leaves only 2, cauline. =Ophrys.=
Leaves more than 2.
Stem leaves reduced to bracts.
Basal leaves white veined. =Peramium.=
Stem leaves not reduced to bracts.
Flowers not spirally arranged.
Glands surrounded by a thin membrane.
=Cœloglossum.=
Glands naked. =Limnorchis.=
Flowers spirally arranged. =Ibidium.=
[Illustration: _a_ Cypripedium passerinum Rich. Small White Lady’s
Slipper.]
[Illustration: _b_ Cypripedium parviflorum Salisb. Small Yellow Lady’s
Slipper.
(⅔Nat.)]
[Sidenote: =Cypripedium passerinum= Rich. _Small White Lady’s Slipper._]
Stem 8—10 inches high from a decumbent base, leafy, hairy throughout.
Leaves 4 or 5, lanceolate, acuminate, veiny, 3—4 inches long,
yellowish-green, and clasping at the base. Flowers solitary, small;
lip obovate, inflated half an inch long, white, spotted with purple
inside, particularly near the base; sepals greenish, shorter than
the lip, the upper forming a sort of hood; the lateral petals white,
oblong-lanceolate, obtuse, half an inch long, spreading.
In damp shaded situations, frequent in the Rockies; flowers in July.
[Sidenote: =Cypripedium parviflorum= Salisb. _Small Yellow Lady’s
Slipper._]
Stem 1—2 feet high, slender, and leafy. Leaves elliptic or lanceolate,
2—6 inches long, 1—2¼ inches wide, yellowish-green, veiny,
scatteringly hairy. Flowers usually solitary, bright yellow; lip
inflated, curved, an inch or more long, spotted and blotched inside
with purple; sepals and petals longer than the lip, laterals twisted,
1½—2 inches long, lanceolate with an attenuate tip, yellowish-green or
sometimes purplish.
Not uncommon in the Rockies in moist ground, very abundant on the
torrent fan among loose stones at the head of Emerald Lake; flowering
in June.
[Sidenote: =Corallorhiza Corallorhiza= (L.) Karst. _Early Coral-root._]
Stem smooth, greenish-yellow or purplish; 4—12 inches high from a mass
of coral-like roots. Leaves absent but represented by 2—5 closely
sheathing scales. Flowers 3—12 in a head 1—3 inches long; sepals and
petals slender, ¼ of an inch long, yellowish or dull purplish; lip not
quite as long as the petals, white or whitish, oblong, nearly entire or
slightly notched at the apex, 2-toothed at the base, occasionally with
purple spots.
[Illustration: Corallorhiza Corallorhiza (L.) Karst. (½ Nat.)
Coral-Root.]
[Illustration: Lyschiton kamtschatcense (L.) Schott. (¼ Nat.) Western
Skunk-Cabbage.]
Frequent in woods in the Rockies especially those of the “Jack Pine,”
flowering in May and early June.
[Sidenote: =Corallorhiza multiflora= Nutt. _Large Coral-root._]
Stems 8—20 inches high, purplish, with several appressed scales.
Flowers 10—30 in a head 2—8 inches long, brownish-purple ½—¾ of an inch
long; sepals and petals linear-lanceolate, about ⅓ of an inch long; lip
white, spotted and lined with purple, oval in outline, deeply 3-lobed,
the middle lobe broadest; spur manifest and yellowish.
Not infrequent in the rich woods in the Selkirks; flowering in late
summer.
[Sidenote: =Cytherea bulbosa= (L.) House. _Calypso._]
Stem 3—6 inches high, purplish, from a bulb nearly half an inch in
diameter. Leaf solitary, dark, lustrous green, 1—1½ inches long, round,
ovate, obtusely pointed at the apex, rounded or somewhat heart-shaped
at the base, deeply veined. Flower solitary, nodding, an inch long,
rosy purple variegated with pink and yellow; petals and sepals linear,
erect or spreading, half an inch or more long with longitudinal purple
lines; lip ¾ of an inch long, sac-like and spreading, divided into
two below, with a prominent patch of yellow hairs near the point of
division.
This charming little orchid, by far the most dainty of any found in the
region, is frequent, growing in deep moss on the shaded slopes of the
Rockies; very fragrant, flowering in early June.
[Sidenote: =Orchis rotundifolia= Pursh. _Round-leaved Orchid._]
Plant slender, 8—10 inches high with one leaf near the base, varying
from nearly orbicular to oval, 1½—3 inches long, 1—2 inches wide,
sheathing at the base. Spike 2—8 flowered; flowers half an inch or more
long; lateral sepals spreading, somewhat longer than the petals, petals
and sepals oval, rose-colour; lip white, purple-spotted, longer than
the petals, three-lobed, the middle longest, dilated and two-lobed or
notched at the tip; spur slender, shorter than the lip.
This beautiful little orchid is abundant throughout the Rockies in cool
mossy spots and rich woods; flowering in June.
[Illustration: _a_ Cytherea bulbosa (L.) House. (¾ Nat.)
Calypso.
_b_ Orchis rotundifolia Pursh. Small Round-Leaved Orchid.]
[Sidenote: =Lysiella obtusata= (Pursh.) Rydb. _Small Northern
Bog-orchid._]
Plant 6—8 inches high from a short thick rootstock; stem naked with
a single obovate or oblong leaf at the base 1½—2½ inches long, ½—1½
inches wide, obtuse. Flowers few in a slender spike, yellowish-green;
upper sepal round, ovate, erect, surrounding the broad column; lateral
sepals reflexed and spreading; petals lanceolate, smaller; lip entire,
linear-lanceolate, and deflexed; spur slightly curved especially at the
tip, shorter than the ovary.
Frequent throughout the Rockies in the lower valleys, in cool shaded
spots growing in moss, on the borders of streams, ponds, or lakes;
flowering in June.
[Sidenote: =Ophrys nephrophylla= Rydb. _Heart-shaped Twayblade._]
Stem slender and smooth, 3—8 inches high. Leaves sessile, cordate or
broadly ovate, ½—1 inch long; head of flowers rather loose, ½—2 inches
long, 4—20-flowered; flowers very minute, purplish or greenish; sepals
ovate; petals oblong, about ¹/₁₆ of an inch long; lip two-cleft, twice
as long as the petals, the segments linear or hair-like.
This diminutive orchid is one of the commonest species throughout the
region in early summer, growing abundantly in mossy places in the moist
woods, frequently not rising more than an inch or two above the surface
of the ground; the flowers varying greatly in color from yellowish
green to purple.
[Sidenote: =Ophrys convallarioides= (Sw.) Wight. _Broad-lipped
Twayblade._]
Stem rather stout, 4—10 inches high, glandular-hairy above the leaves.
Leaves smooth, round, oval or ovate, obtuse, 3—9 nerved, 1—2½ inches
long, ½—1½ inches wide. Flowers 3—12 in a loose head, yellowish-green,
½ an inch long; bracts nearly ¼ of an inch long; sepals and petals
narrow and strongly reflexed in flower, much shorter than the lip;
lip nearly half an inch long, broadly wedge-shaped with two obtuse
lobes at the apex and with a tooth at each side of the narrow base;
column elongated but shorter than the lip, and incurved with two short
projecting wings above the anther.
In hemlock woods throughout the Selkirks; flowering in July.
[Sidenote: =Ophrys borealis= (Morong). _Northern Twayblade._]
Stems 3—5 inches high, smooth below, glandular and with long silky
scattered hairs among the flowers. Leaves oval, slightly sheathing,
obtuse, an inch or more long, half as broad, generally smooth. Flowers
few in a raceme; sepals and petals nearly equal, linear, obtuse, about
¼ of an inch long; lip half an inch long, obtuse at the apex with very
obtuse lobes. Yellowish-green with a purplish middle and purple nerves
radiating into the apical lobes, column slightly incurved, ⅛ of an inch
long.
Generally distributed throughout the Rockies but never abundant, seldom
more than 3 or 4 plants being found together; flowering in July.
[Sidenote: =Peramium Menziesi= (Lindl.) Morong. _Rattlesnake Plantain._]
Plant 8—15 inches high from a hairy, creeping rootstock. Leaves basal,
1½—2½ inches long and a third as broad, tapering to both ends, dark
green and veiny, sometimes blotched with white. Flowers ¼ to nearly ½
an inch long, yellowish- or greenish-white, in a slender spike; sepals
and petals lanceolate, erect or nearly so about half the length of the
lip, lip swollen at the base and with a long narrow recurved tip.
Frequent in rich woods throughout the region, growing in moss, the
evergreen leaves forming a rosette at the base of the stalk of flowers,
which blossom in August.
[Illustration: Limnorchis dilatatiformis Rydb. (⅙ Nat.)