NUMBER 3                                                                                                             June 1951
 

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     An orchid is a plant with perfect, irregular, symmetrical flowers. There are three sepals and three petals, borne on the top of the ovary. The middle petal, called the lip—properly the upper one, but usually at the bottom, due to the twisting of the ovary—is larger and more conspicuous than the others. The flower has either one or two stamens, united with the style to form the column. The seeds are very small and numerous. The leaves, when present, are parallel-veined, entire, narrow and grass-like or broader.

     The orchids are among the few groups of plants in which there is popular interest, due chiefly to the showy flowers of some of the tropical species and their reputation for rarity. To the scientist, they are of special interest because of adaptation to specific insects for pollination, and their dependence on certain fungi, without which the seeds will not grow.

     Most of our native orchids are inconspicuous plants, restricted to little disturbed swamps and woodlands. The pink and the yellow lady's slippers, the showy orchis, and the yellow fringed orchid are common and attractive enough to be in danger of extermination from picking.
 

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