6. CORALLORHÌZA, Haller. Coral-root.
Perianth somewhat ringent, oblique and gibbous or obscurely spurred at base; the oblong or lanceolate sepals and petals nearly alike, 1–3-nerved, the upper arching; the lateral sepals ascending, their bases with that of the lip forming the gibbosity or short spur which is mostly adnate to the summit of the ovary; lip slightly adherent to the base of the 2-edged straightish column, bearing a pair of projecting ridges on the face below, spreading or recurved at the apex. Anther terminal, lid-like. Pollen-masses 4, obliquely incumbent, soft-waxy, free.—Brownish or yellowish herbs, destitute of green foliage, with much-branched and toothed coral-like root-stocks (probably root-parasitical), sending up a simple scape, with sheaths in place of leaves and bearing a raceme of rather small dull-colored flowers; fruit reflexed. (Name composed of κοράλλιον, coral, and ῥίζα, root.)
§ 1. Small spur or sac adnate to the summit of the ovary; flowers small; lip whitish or purplish, often mottled with crimson.
1. C. innàta, R. Brown. Plant slender, light brownish or yellowish (3–9´ high), 5–12-flowered; pedicels very short; perianth 2–2½´´ long; lip somewhat hastately 3-lobed above the base, the lamellæ thick and rather short; spur a very small protuberance; capsule oval or elliptical (3–4´´ long).—Swamps and damp woods, N. Eng. to northern N. J., Ohio, Mich., Minn., and northward, and south in the mountains to Ga. May, June. (Eu.)
2. C. odontorhìza, Nutt. Plant light brown or purplish; stem rather slender, bulbous-thickened at base (6–16´ high), 6–20-flowered; pedicels rather slender; perianth about 3´´ long; lip entire or merely denticulate, thin, broadly ovate or obovate, abruptly contracted into a claw-like base, the lamellæ a pair of short projections; the spur represented by a small cavity wholly adnate to the summit of the ovary; capsule at first very acute at base, at length short-oval (4´´ long).—Rich woods, E. Mass. (Hitchings) and Vt. to N. J. and Fla., west to Mich, and Mo. May–July.
3. C. multiflòra, Nutt. Plant purplish, rather stout (9–18´ high), 10–30-flowered; perianth 2½–4´´ long; lip deeply 3-lobed, with a short narrowed base and with prominent lamellæ; spur manifest and protuberant; capsule oblong (6–9´´ long), short-pedicelled.—Dry woods, N. Eng. to Md., west to Mo., Iowa, and Minn. July–Sept.
§ 2. Spur none; the broadly gibbous somewhat saccate base wholly free from the ovary; flowers large for the genus, purple, unspotted, more expanding.
4. C. striàta, Lindl. Plant purplish, stout (6–16´ high), bearing 15–25 large flowers in a crowded spike, on very short pedicels; perianth 6–7´´ long; lip oval or obovate, perfectly entire, concave, barely narrowed at the base, where it bears 1–3 short lamellæ; all the parts of the perianth marked with 3 darker nerves; pod oblong (9´´ long). (C. Macræi, Gray.)—Woods, from L. Erie westward along the Great Lakes and to the Pacific.
7. HEXALÉCTRIS, Raf.
Sepals and petals nearly equal, somewhat spreading, several-nerved, not gibbous nor spurred at base, free. Lip obovate, with 5–6 prominent ridges down the middle, 3-lobed above, the middle lobe somewhat concave. Pollen-masses 8, united into a single fascicle. Otherwise as in Corallorhiza. (Name probably from ἕξ, six, and ἀλεκτρυών, a cock, from the crests of the lip.)