190 The Plant World. 



a farmer of this region that dark colors assisted the warming 



of a soil. 



Bureau of Styils, 

 U. S. Department of Agriculture, 

 Washington, D. C. 



NOTES ON THE ROYAL MOCCASIN-FLOWER. 

 Eugene E. Barker. 



The royal moccasin flower (Cypripedium reginae Walt, 

 or C. spectabile, Salisbury and Swartz), as it grows in the foot- 

 hills of the Adirondack Moinitains, shows interesting and 

 marked response to the intensity of sunlight it receives. This 

 response to the amount of insolation is apparent in the size of 

 the plant, the posture of the leaves, the abundance of bloom, 

 and lastly, though probably indirectly, the number of flowers 

 that set seed. 



The more open parts of cedar swamps, where its fibrous 

 roots feed in the cold, wet muck, are its favorite habitat Here 

 it attains to maximum luxuriance. When it groA\s in open 

 sunliijht, among onlv small cedars and stunted willows, the 

 plants are stocky and the leaves point sharply upward, curving 

 somewhat around the stem, and the flowers are pale in color 

 for the most part. Those plants which grow in difl'use sunlight 

 under the cedars are taller (about three feet high), the flowers 

 have a richer hue, and the great expanded leaves spread horizon- 

 tallv to the light There are however, fewer stems from each 

 root, and a larger percentage bear no flowers than among those 

 growing in the open. 



When one cuts a stem close to the ground, he is surprised 

 at the amount of water that runs from the cut end. This 

 water was not in the stem, however, but held in the lowest leaf, 

 which is small and clasping. 



Rarely one finds a flower with the labellum pure white. 

 Two such flowers were noticed this season growing together in 

 the sunlight. The interior, as in normal flowers, was stieaked. 

 Two monstrosities were found, one with an anther on the face 

 of the stigma, another that lacked the labellum. 



