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Spiranthes romanzoffiana Cham. (Hooded Ladies'-Tresses)

· Collected April–September 1897, Flora of South-Eastern California

Spiranthes romanzoffiana Cham. (Hooded Ladies'-Tresses)
This is a herbarium specimen sheet, not a cartoon or caricature. It shows pressed and mounted plants of *Spiranthes romanzoffiana* — hooded ladies'-tresses, a native North American orchid — collected by C.A. Purpus for the Flora of South-Eastern California series and accessioned by the Herbier du Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris. Several stems with spiral flower spikes are pinned in parallel, with a handwritten locality label and printed accession stamps visible. No satirical tradition applies here. Describing it as caricature would misrepresent a primary botanical document.

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