42 



THE GUIDE TO NATURE. 



have found it shy and local. Thus, it 

 skips Rhode Island altogether. It has, 

 however, a wide distribution, from New 

 Brunswick to Georgia, west to Minne- 

 sota and Missouri. 



It is found in rich woods, and is one of 

 those plants which from its lovely asso- 

 ciations, ever recalls to the mind of the 

 wood-lover, scenes of rare beauty. Thus 

 the writer, when he occasionally sees it, 

 thinks at once of his early home at West 

 Point in the Hudson Highlands. There 

 it may be found, unless "improvements" 

 have eliminated it, growing in the dark 

 ravines of Crow's Xest or about Re- 

 doubt Hill. Its associates in this haunt 

 of the Culprit Fay, are the yellow violet, 

 wild ginger, climbing fumitory, yellow 

 lady's slipper, and starry campion. It 

 will be noted that these friends of its 

 choice, with others too numerous to men- 

 tion, are all beautiful and equally retir- 

 ing. Finding orchis we may safely look 

 for them, though their presence does not 

 necessarily denote the vicinage of orchis. 

 Such ecological relations are among the 

 most fascinating subjects of modern bot- 

 any. Once considered merely curious, 

 they are now recognized as of profound 

 significance. There seems almost a hu- 

 man quality — something pathetic — in 

 these long-continued friendships of 

 plants. How did they start? Why 

 do they endure ? Are they eternal ? 



Showy orchis is a small plant, with its 

 scape or flower stalk some four to seven 

 inches only in height. It rises from a 

 root of thick and fleshy fibres, crowned 

 by one or two smooth and glossy oblong- 

 ovate, radical leaves. In texture the 

 bracts resemble these, but are lanceolate 

 in shape, subtending the individual flow- 

 ers of the erect raceme. 



As would naturally be expected from 

 the type or "name-flower" of the family. 

 Orchis exhibits in a fine way, the dis- 

 tinctive characteristic of the noble order. 

 The flowers, usually pink or purple, and 

 with a faint, ineffable perfume, are rin- 

 gent or grinning, of three sepals and 

 three petals, the latter being of nearly 

 equal size. These lightly join to form 

 the hollowed "helmet" or upper lip. The 

 apparent lower lip is undivided, and 

 turned downwards. This characteristic 

 part of all orchids is really an upper 



segment of the perianth, which by a half 

 twist of the ovary is more commonly 

 brought to the bottom of the flower. 

 There it forms a lodgment or platform 

 for visiting insects. In our special case 

 it embraces the base of the "column," a 

 term employed in orchid description to 

 denote the union into one body, of the 

 stamen (or, in Cypripedium," two sta- 

 mens ) with the pistil. The anther-cells 

 of these are contiguous, — i. e., touching, 

 — and parallel, producing pollen in 

 coarse waxy grains, agglutinated into 

 pear-shaped masses by cobwebby threads. 

 Each pollen-mass, (pollinium) extends 



CYPRIPEDIUM ACAULE. 

 Transplanted from the woods and grown in the 

 back yard 



below into a stalk — bent near the base 

 at right angles, and terminating in flat, 

 circular, adhesive disks. These, when 

 removed, as shown by Darwin, through 

 hygrometric effects of the atmosphere, 

 change from an erect to a nearly hori- 

 zontal position. As originally standing, 

 when removed by a visitor, they could 

 not, when the insect approached another 

 flower of the species, in any way, reach 

 its stigma. The change of direction, 

 however, accomplishes the desired end. 



