WILD, OR NATIVE FLOWERS. 



35 



advanced towards maturity. The sepals may be distinguished from the 

 petals ; the former being longer than the latter, and by being united at 

 the back of the flower. The column on which the stamens are placed 

 is three-lobed ; the two antl>ers are placed one on either side, under the 

 two lobes ; the central lobe is sterile, thick, fleshy, and bent down, 

 somewhat blunt and heart-shaped. The root of the Lady's Slipper is a 

 bundle of white fleshy fibres. 



One of the remarkable characteristics of the flowers of this genus, 

 and of many of the natural order to which it belongs, is the singular 

 resemblance the organs of the blossom bear to the face of some animal 

 or insect. Thus the face of an Indian hound may be seen in the 

 Golden-flowered Cypripedium pubescens ; that of a sheep or ram, with 

 the horns and ears, in C. arietinum ; while our " Showy Lady's Slipoer " 

 displays the curious face and peering black eyes of an ape. 



A rarer species is the 



Stemless Lady's Slipper — Cypripedium acaiile {A.\t) 



It differs from the former species by the sac, which is large and of 

 a beautiful rose tint exquisitely veined with deeper red zig-zag lines, not 

 being closed; but merely folded over m front; this is not observable until 

 you examine it closely. The scape rises from between the two large 

 oval leaves which lie horizontally on the mosses amidst which the plant 

 grows. 



A time will come when thege rare productions of our soil will 

 disappear from among us, and will be found only in those waste and 

 desolate places, where the foot of civilized man can hardly penetrate ; 

 where the flowers of the wilderness flourish, bloom and decay unseen 

 but by the all-seeing eye of Him who adorns the lonely places of the 

 earth, filling them with beauty and fragrance. 



For whom are these solitary objects of beauty reserved ? Shall we 

 say with Milton : — 



"Thousands of unseen beings walk this earth, 

 Both while we wake and while we sleep : — 

 And think though man were none, — 

 That earth would want spectatois — God want praise. 



Yellow Lady's Slippers — Cypripedium parviflorum (Salisb.) and 

 Cypripedium pubescens (Willd.) 



" And golden slippers meet for Fairies' feet." 

 Of the golden-flowered Moccasin flowers, we boast of two very beau 

 tiful species, C pubescens. Hairy Moccasin flower, and C. paii'ifiorum 

 " Lesser-flowered Moccasin flower." The larger plant is the more 



