[Illustration: SLENDER LADIES’-TRESSES ROSE POGONIA]
Air plants or tuberous-rooted; leaves alternate, undivided; sepals 3;
petals 3, the middle one, or “lip,” often complex in structure; stamens
2 or 1, united to pistil; ovary below the perianth.
Slender Ladies’-Tresses (_Ibidium gracile_) is also called twisted-stalk
or corkscrew-plant because of the twisting of the flower-stalk. The
stems, which are 8 in. to 2 ft. high, grow from a cluster of tuberous
roots and have two broad leaves at the base. This flower ranges from
Texas to Nova Scotia.
Rose Pogonia. Snake-Mouth (_Pogonia ophioglossoides_) grows in swampy
places from Texas to Newfoundland. Pogonia is from the Greek, meaning
“bearded” and refers to the bearded lip.
Grass-Pink (_Limodorum tuberosum_) is a pink-flowered orchid of East
Texas and the Eastern States similar to the rose pogonia, but does not
have the short clasping leaf on the stem.
The orchid family is a large group of more than 15,000 species. Some
orchids are air-plants, attaching themselves to tree-trunks, but none of
these are found among the 25 orchids growing in Texas. Perhaps the
handsomest orchid in the state is the red-flowered flame orchid
(_Stenorrhynchus cinnabarinus_) found in the mountains of the Big Bend.
All the Texas orchids are rare enough to need protection.