ORCHID FAMILY (Orchidaceae)
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.
BUCKWHEAT FAMILY (Polygonaceae)
