Part 16

In the Hoosac Valley autumn is a season of glory. Late August produces the gorgeous colored tiger lilies. The swampy meadows in September are brightened with the delicate greenish-white stars of the Grass-of Parnassus (_Parnassia Caroliniana_), first found on that ancient Mount Parnassus in Greece, and described and named by Dioscorides in Christ’s day. Innumerable asters and golden-rod brighten the roadside hedges. In the open clearings of bushy pastures grows the Woolly Moonshine—the “everlasting” of which Thoreau wrote. It is sometimes called Cud-Weed, or Balsam-Weed (_Gnaphalium decurrens_). The Pearly-Everlasting or None-so-Pretty (_Anaphalis margaritacea_) is peculiarly fragrant and beautiful, banked in among the late golden-rods, and the crimson and chrome-colored autumn leaves of sumach and blackberry briars against the dark green pines. I have found these flowers unfolding amid the snows as late as December. Late spikes of Orchids, the Ladies’ Tresses of genus _Gyrostachys_, the Bitter-Buttons or Tansy-Weed (_Tanacetum vulgare_), numerous thistles (_Carduus_), the velvety leaves of St. Peter’s Mullen (_Verbascum Thapsus_), Wormwood (_Artemisia Absinthium_) grow along the roadsides over Mount Œta, while Thimble-Berry blossoms and the Bluebells-of-New-England fill in the waste places of fences and dug-away ledges.

When the cooler days of October come, we may look for that blue flower of heaven, the Fringed Gentian (_Gentiana crinita_), along the roadsides near the swamps of Etchowog, modestly and patiently waiting for the autumnal skies of blue:

Then doth thy sweet and quiet eye Look through its fringes to the sky, Blue—blue—as if that sky let fall A flower from its cerulean well.[63]

So come and fade alike the rarest flowers and the commonest weeds among the Highlands of the Hoosac, the valley of peaceful waters.

It is in the deepest and most secluded swamps that the shy orchid blooms, far beyond the realm of lawn or garden. Few indeed realize what a world of beauty and order lies sleeping unsought and unseen in the mossy recesses of our mountains,—a wonderland of discovery to any one who persistently, though reverently, seeks to lure from Nature the secrets of her deep retreats.

APPENDIX

NEW ENGLAND ORCHIDS

Nature, in fact that parent of all things, has produced no animated being for the purpose solely of eating; she has willed that it should be born to satisfy the wants of others, and in its very vitals has implanted medicaments conducive to health.... Cato has recommended that flowers for making chaplets should be cultivated in the gardens: varieties remarkable for delicacy, which it is quite impossible to express, inasmuch as no individual can find such faculties for describing them as Nature does, for bestowing on them their numerous tints. Nature, who here in especial shows herself in a sportive mood, takes a delight in the prolific display of her varied productions. The other plants she has produced for our uses and our nutriment, and to them accordingly she has granted years, and even ages, of duration; but as for the flowers and their perfumes, she has given them birth for but a day—a mighty lesson to man, we see, to teach him that that which in its career is most beauteous and most attractive to the eye is the very first to fade and die.

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_

[In compiling the appendix of New England Orchids, the author has followed the order of classification and nomenclature adopted by Messrs. Britton and Brown in the _Illustrated Flora_ of Northeastern North America, 1896, without doubt the highest and most systematic arrangement according to the progress of evolution and the advancement of the science of botany in North America.]

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.[64]) VII. _Listera_ R. Brown, 1813—3 species. VIII. _Peramium_ Salisbury, 1812—4 species. (_Goodyera_ R. Brown, 1813.[64]) IX. _Achroanthes_ Rafinesque, 1808—2 species. (_Microstylis_ Nuttall, 1818.[64]) X. _Leptorchis_ Thouars, 1808—2 species. (_Liparis_ Richard, 1818.[64]) XI. _Calypso_ Salisbury, 1807—1 species.[65] XII. _Corallorhiza_ R. Brown, 1813—4 species. XIII. _Tipularia_ Nuttall, 1818—1 species.[65] XIV. _Limodorum_ Linnæus, 1753—1 species. (_Calopogon_ R. Brown, 1813.[64]) XV. _Aplectrum_ Nuttall, 1818—1 species.[65]

I

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.

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

(_Cypripedium spectabile_ Salisbury, 1791)

WHITE-PETALED, OR SHOWY LADY’S SLIPPER—QUEEN OF THE MOCCASIN-FLOWERS

The specific name, _reginæ_, refers to the queenly appearance of the white-petaled flowers.

Large bogland orchid, with fleshy-fibrous roots. Frequent. June 15th-July 4th.

=Flowers=, 1-4 terminal, large, showy, white, tinged with deep pink or wine; the most beautiful species among our native _Cypripediums_. =Labellum= shoe-shaped, inflated, drooping margins of the orifice inflected, crest deeply tinged with pink-purple; interior downy, ornamented with lines of deeper purple. Rarely pure white flowers occur. =Sepals= and =petals= similar, pure white; 2 lower sepals wholly united; side petals narrower than sepals. =Stem=, 1-3 feet high. =Leaves=, 5-7, alternating to top of stem; 3-7 inches long, clasping, 1-4 inches wide; 10-13 plaits; strongly pubescent, produces poisonous effect to susceptible people similar to that caused by _Rhus_.

_Continental Range_—From Nova Scotia southward to the higher mountains of North Carolina, and Huntsville, Alabama; westward to Minnesota, Walhalla Mountains, North Dakota, and the Barrens of Kentucky.

_New England Range_—Maine, frequent; New Hampshire, frequent; Vermont, common; Massachusetts, common; Rhode Island, no stations reported; Connecticut, frequent.

3.—CYPRIPEDIUM CANDIDUM Willdenow, 1805[66]

SMALL WHITE LADY’S SLIPPER—THE PRAIRIE MOCCASIN-FLOWER

The specific name, _candidum_, refers to the white labellum of this species.

Small, damp swamp-land orchid, with fleshy-fibrous roots. Rare. May 11th-June 29th.

=Flowers= small, solitary, and terminal. =Labellum= shoe-shaped, white, striped with purple interiorly; about 1 inch long; orifice small, with edges inflected. =Sepals= and =petals= lanceolate, greenish-brown and purple; lower sepals imperfectly united. =Stem= leafy, 6-12 inches high, pubescent. =Leaves=, 3-4, sheathing, erect, crowded, acute, 3-5 inches long, ⅔-1½ inches wide, several scales below, 7-9 nerved.

_Continental Range_—From Connecticut, Pennsylvania westward to Indiana, North Dakota, Columbia Plains, on the Canadian shore of St. Clair River, to the Barrens of northern Kentucky, and Fort Hill, California, which station appears doubtful; more central distribution being from central New York to North Dakota.

_New England Range_—Recently reported for Connecticut by Mr. A. W. Driggs, of East Hartford.

4.—CYPRIPEDIUM HIRSUTUM Miller, 1768

(_Cypripedium pubescens_ Willdenow, 1805)

LARGE YELLOW LADY’S SLIPPER—DOWNY YELLOW MOCCASIN-FLOWER

The specific name, _hirsutum_, refers to the whole plant being hirsute, or clothed with hairs.

Large bogland or damp mountainside orchid, with fleshy-fibrous roots. May 19th-June 15th.

=Flowers= dull chrome yellow, 1-3, terminal, shoe-shaped, 1-2½ inches long. =Labellum= shoe-shaped, inflated, convex above, chrome yellow, edges of orifice inflected, lined with downy hairs and dotted lines of carmine. =Sepals= and =petals= graceful, petals very much twisted; lower sepals imperfectly united; siskin-green and brown-purple. =Stem= leafy to top, 1-2½ high, pubescent. =Leaves=, usually 5, broadly ovate, 3-5 inches long, 1½-3 inches wide; 7-9 nerved; plicate and hirsute, said to cause poisonous irritation similar to _Rhus_. =Roots= used as a nervine.[67]

_Continental Range_—From the wooded country of the sub-arctic lands in latitude 54°-64° North, southward throughout Canada, New England, to Alabama; westward to North Dakota, Colorado, slightly beyond the Continental Divide in the Rocky Mountain region.

_New England Range_—Maine, common; New Hampshire, common; Vermont, frequent; Massachusetts, abundant; Rhode Island, rare; Connecticut, rare.

5.—CYPRIPEDIUM PARVIFLORUM Salisbury, 1791

SMALL YELLOW LADY’S SLIPPER—FRAGRANT YELLOW MOCCASIN-FLOWER

The specific name, _parviflorum_, refers to the small flower of this species.

Small bogland or damp hillside orchid, with fleshy-fibrous roots. May 19th-July 4th.

Flowers small, yellow, solitary, and terminal. Often intergrades with larger yellow species—(_C. hirsutum_); fragrant, the only _Cypripedium_ in the Atlantic region especially so. Labellum small, ½-1½ inch long, shoe-shaped, drooping lemon-yellow, lined with downy hairs and dotted lines of carmine. Sepals and petals brownish-purple, similar in texture; sepals 2 inches long, graceful, twisted, lower ones imperfectly united; petals glossy and twisting exceedingly. Stem leafy, slender, pubescent, 1-2 feet high. Leaves lanceolate, 3-5 inches long and 1-2¼ inches wide, pubescent, 7-9 nerved; not so villose as _C. hirsutum_ Miller. Said to produce poisonous effect similar to _Rhus_.

_Continental Range_—In company with other species of New England _Cypripedium_; from Newfoundland, British Columbia, southward to Georgia; westward to the sub-humid regions of Kansas, extending slightly over the Continental Divide in Rocky Mountain region. Ascends 4000 feet altitude in Virginia.

_New England Range_—Maine, frequent; New Hampshire, infrequent; Vermont, frequent; Massachusetts, frequent; Rhode Island, not reported; Connecticut, rather rare.

6.—CYPRIPEDIUM ACAULE Aiton, 1789

TWO-LEAVED LADY’S SLIPPER—STEMLESS PINK MOCCASIN-FLOWER

The specific name, _acaule_, refers to the lowly and humble (acaulescent), growth of the species, since the flower is stemless, arising from a short or subterranean stem.

Sphagnous bogland, _conifer_ or mixed woodland orchid with fleshy-fibrous roots. May 19th-June 20th.

Flowers large, pink-purple, solitary, terminal, stemless. Labellum shoe-shaped, 2-2½ inches long, bi-lobed, pendulous, with closed fissure down its whole length, edges inflected, downy interiorly; pink-purple with darker veining of purple. (Rarely pure white flowers occur, with chrome yellow sepals and petals.) Sepals and petals brown-purple and green, shorter than labellum; two lower sepals wholly united. =Stem= very short, obscured by the basal leaves. =Scape= naked, 8-18 inches high, single-flowered, terminal. Few instances where two flowers or buds in embryo have occurred. =Leaves= 2, sheathing the base of peduncle, oblanceolate 3-5 nerved, hirsute and thickened; 6-8 inches long, 2-3 inches wide, resembling the leaves of _Orchis spectabilis_ Linnæus.

_Continental Range_—From Newfoundland, and Fort Franklin, in latitude 54°-64° North; southward to Lookout Mountain, Mentone, and Cullman, Alabama; westward to northern Indiana, Minnesota, and Kentucky.

_New England Range_—Maine, common; New Hampshire, common; Vermont, abundant; Massachusetts, abundant; Rhode Island, common; Connecticut, common.

II

Orchis

Linnæus, 1753

SHOWY ORCHIS

The generic name, _Orchis_, refers to ὄρχις, the son of a rural deity of classical mythology, in whose memory these flowers were designated.

Plants with biennial roots. =Anther= 1. =Labellum= connate with base of the column; produced below into a spur. =Sepals= separate, free to the base, similar in texture to the petals. =Flowers= small, delicate white and rose-purple, fragrant; in a short terminal spike. =Anther-sacs= divergent; pollinia granulose, 1 in each anther-sac, which is attached at the base to a viscid disk or gland. =Glands= _enclosed_ in a pouch. =Stem=, scape-like, 5-angled, 4-12 inches high. =Leaves= 2, oblong-obovate, shining, basal, with several bracts above. =Roots= fleshy-fibrous or tuberous.

_Continental Range_—There are three reported species of this genus for the Continent. _Orchis_, as a genus, contains 80 or more species ranging throughout the temperate regions of Europe, Asia, Northern Africa, Canaries, and North America.

North American species 3 New England species 2 Hoosac Valley species 1

New England species:

1. _O. spectabilis_ Linnæus, 1753. 2. _O. rotundifolia_ (Pursh) Lindley, 1814-1835.

1.—ORCHIS SPECTABILIS Linnæus, 1753

SHOWY ORCHIS

The specific name, _spectabilis_, refers to the beautiful spectacle of a group of these plants in bloom.

Small, damp woodland orchid with fleshy-fibrous roots. April 19th-June 19th.

=Flowers= fragrant, about 1 inch long, violet-purple mixed with rose-purple and white; 3-6 flowered in a bracted raceme. =Labellum= divergent, attached to a spur, purple and white. =Sepals= and =petals= arching in a galea. =Glands= _enclosed_ in a pouch or hooded fold. Stem, scape-like, 4-12 inches high, thick, 5-angled. =Leaves= 2, basal with 1-2 scales below, and foliaceous bracts above sheathing the seed-capsules.

_Continental Range_—From New Brunswick, Ontario, southward to Georgia and Alabama; westward to the Rocky Mountains. Ascends 4000 feet altitude in Virginia.

_New England Range_—Maine, rare; New Hampshire, frequent; Vermont, frequent; Massachusetts, frequent; Rhode Island, rare; Connecticut, common.

2.—ORCHIS ROTUNDIFOLIA (Pursh) Lindley, 1814-1835[68]

SMALL ROUND-LEAVED ORCHIS

The specific name, _rotundifolia_, refers to the round leaf of this species.

Small woodland or sphagnous bogland orchid with fleshy-fibrous roots. June 10th-July.

=Flowers= white, rose-purple, flecked with deeper purple, ½-⅔ inch long, subtended by bracts; =raceme= 2-6 flowered. =Labellum= 3-lobed, white, purple-spotted, longer than petals, central lobe largest, two-lobed or notched at the summit; spur slender, shorter than labellum. =Sepals= and =petals= oval, rose-color. =Glands= _enclosed_. =Stem= slender, 8-10 inches high. =Leaf= 1 near the base, orbicular or oval, 1½-3 inches long, and 1-2 inches wide, sheathing scales below.

_Continental Range_—Rare; from Greenland, southward throughout Canada, in latitude 55°-56° North in British Columbia, Rocky Mountain region to Bristol Swamps, Addison County, Vermont, and Norfolk, Connecticut (?).

_New England Range_—Maine, rare; New Hampshire, rare; Vermont, rare; Massachusetts, not reported; Rhode Island, not reported; Connecticut, doubtfully reported.

III

Habenaria

Willdenow, 1805

REIN ORCHIS—NAKED GLAND ORCHIS

The generic name, _Habenaria_, comes from _habena_, a thong or rein.

=Leafy-stemmed= plants. =Anther= 1. =Glands= _naked_. =Labellum= spreading or drooping, with a spur at base. =Sepals= and petals free, similar in structure and color. =Anther-sacs= parallel; pollinia without caudicles, powdery or granulose. =Flowers= mostly in a spiked raceme, various in colors, ornamented with spurs, fringed petals and throats. =Fragrance= delicate and exquisite in several species. =Leaves= 1-many, lanceolate, becoming bract-like above. In two species—_H. orbiculata_ (Pursh) Torrey and _H. Hookeriana_ A. Gray—the leaves are orbicular and basal, with or without bracts above. =Roots= thick, fibrous, tuberous or palmate. =Seedlings= appear numerous in many stations.

_Continental Range_—A genus containing about 450-500 species for the world, widely distributed in temperate and tropical regions in Europe, Asia, and America. There are 50-55 species on the continent of North America north of Mexico.

North American species north of Mexico 50-55 New England species 18 Hoosac Valley species 13-16

New England species:

1. _H. orbiculata_ (Pursh) Torrey, 1814-1826. 2. _H. Hookeriana_ A. Gray, 1836. 3. _H. oblongifolia_ (Paine) Niles, 1865-1903. 4. _H. obtusata_ (Pursh) Richardson, 1814-1823. 5. _H. hyperborea_ (Linnæus) R. Brown, 1767-1813. 6. _H. media_ (Rydberg) Niles, 1901-1903. 7. _H. dilatata_ (Pursh) Hooker, 1814-1825. 8. _H. fragrans_ (Rydberg) Niles, 1901-1903. 9. _H. bracteata_ (Willdenow) R. Brown, 1805-1813. 10. _H. clavellata_ (Michaux) Sprengel, 1803-1826. 11. _H. flava_ (Linnæus) A. Gray, 1753-1840. 12. _H. ciliaris_ (Linnæus) R. Brown, 1753-1813. 13. _H. blephariglottis_ (Willdenow) Torrey, 1805-1826. 14. _H. holopetala_ (Lindley) A. Gray, 1835-1867. 15. _H. lacera_ (Michaux) R. Brown, 1803-1810. 16. _H. grandiflora_ (Bigelow) Torrey, 1824-1826. 17. _H. psycodes_ (Linnæus) A. Gray, 1753-1840. 18. _H. Andrewseii_ White n. sp. (per letter, 1903).

1.—HABENARIA ORBICULATA (Pursh) Torrey, 1814-1826

LARGE ROUND-LEAVED ORCHIS—HEAL-ALL—SHIN-PLASTERS

The specific name, _orbiculata_, refers to the round or orbicular leaves of this plant.

Tall spiked woodland orchid, with thick fibrous roots. June 17th-July 15th-August 5th.