Root tuberous. Stems: glabrous, leafy below, bracted above. Leaves: oblong-lanceolate. Flowers: spike dense, in three rows, conspicuously bracted; perianth white, the petals and sepals all connivant, lip recurved, ovate-oblong, contracted below the narrower wavy-crenu-late summit.

This is the last orchid of the season, found chiefly in wet marshy places, just when the power of the summer sun begins to wane. It is a beautiful fragrant flower, growing in dense snowy spikes, and has long narrow leaves. Considering that orchids are reckoned as amongst the rarest and richest treasures of Nature, it is strange how many species of them grow wild in the mountains. Of course they are all terrestrial ones; we have none of the kinds which grow on trees and develop false bulbs.

Plate XVIII

Hooded Ladies' Tresses (Spiranthes Romanzoffana)