YELLOW 



HORSE BALM. RICH-WEED. STONE-ROOT. 



Collinsonia Canadensis. Mint Family. 



One to three feet high. Leaves. — Opposite; large; ovate; toothed; 

 pointed. Flowers. — Yellowish; lemon-scented ; clustered loosely. Calyx. 

 — Two-lipped; the upper lip three-toothed; the lower two-cleft. Corolla. — 

 Elongated ; somewhat two-lipped ; the four upper lobes nearly equal, the 

 lower large and long, toothed or fringed. Stamens. — Two (sometimes four, 

 the upper pair shorter), protruding, diverging. Pistil. — One, with a two- 

 lobed style. 



In the damp rich woods of midsummer these strong-scented 

 herbs, with their loose terminal clusters of lemon-colored, lemon- 

 scented flowers, are abundant. The plant was introduced into 

 England by the amateur botanist and flower-lover, Collinson, 

 after whom the species is named. The Indians formerly em- 

 ployed it as an application to wounds. 



YELLOW FRINGED ORCHIS. ORANGE ORCHIS. 



Hahenaria ciliaris. Orchis Family. 



Stem. — Leafy; one to two feet high. Leaves. — The lower oblong to 

 lance-shaped; the upper passing into pointed bracts. Flowers. — Deep 

 orange jolor, with a slender spur and deeply fringed lip ; growing in an ob- 

 long spike. 



Years may pass without our meeting this the most brilliant of 

 our orchids. Suddenly one August day we chance upon just 

 such a boggy meadow as we have searched in vain a hundred 

 times, and behold myriads of its deep orange, dome-like spires 

 erecting themselves in radiant beauty over whole acres of land. 

 The separate flowers, with their long spurs and deeply fringed 

 lips, will repay a close examination. They are well calculated, 

 massed in such brilliant clusters, to arrest the attention of what- 

 ever insects may specially affect them. Although I have 

 watched many of these plants I have never seen an insect visit 

 one, and am inclined to think that they are fertihzed by night- 

 moths. 



177 



