White and Greenish 



front, 1 in. long or over. Stem: Stout, leafy, i to 2 ft. high. 



Leaves : ? to 8 in. long, downy, elliptic, pointed, many ribbed. 

 Preferred //a/'/ya/— Peat-bogs; rich', low, wet woods. 

 Florverinir Season — ^J une — September. 

 Distribution— WovA Scotia to Georgia, westward to the Mississippi. 



Chietly North. 



Quite different from the showv orchis, with its several-flow- 

 ered spike of violet and pink blossoms, is this far more chaste and 

 usually solitary showy lady's slipper which Dr. Gray has called 

 " the most beautiful of the genus." Because the plants hide away 

 in inaccessible swampv places, where only the most zealous, rub- 

 ber-booted, swear-proof flower lover cares to penetrate, they have 

 a reputation for rarity at which one who knows a dozen places 

 to find colonies of the stately exquisites during a mornings walk 

 in July, must smile with superiority. Wine appears to overflow 

 the large white cup and trickle down its sides. 



Large Round-leaved or Greater Green Orchis 



{Habenaria orbiculata) Orchid family 



Flowers— Gxeemsh white, in a looselv set spike; the upper sepal 

 short, rounded; side ones spreading; petals smaller, arching; 

 the lip long, narrow, drooping, white, prolonged into a spur 

 often I ;4 in. long, curved and enlarged at base ; anther sacs 

 prominent, converging. Scape : i to 2 ft. high. Leaves : 2, 

 spreadino- flat on ground, glossv above, silvery underneath, 

 parallel-veined, slightly longer than wide, very large, from 4 

 to 7 in. across. 



Preferred Habitat— K\c\\, moist woods in mountainous regions, 

 especially near evergreens. 



Floiverins^ Season— \w\y—k\igViSX. 



Distribution— "^xom British Columbia to the Atlantic; eastern halt 

 of the United States southward to the Carolinas. 



Wonderfully interesting structure and the comparative rarity 

 of this orchid, rather than superflcial beauty, are responsible lor the 

 thrill of pleasure one experiences at the sight of the spike of unpre- 

 tentious flowers. Two great leaves, sometimes as large as dimier 

 plates, attract the eye to'where thev glisten on the ground. The 

 spur of the blossom', the nectary, "implies a welcome to a tongue 

 two inches long, and will reward none other," says William Ham- 

 ilton Gibson. "This clearly shuts out the bees, butterflies, and 

 smaller moths. What insect, then, is here implied ? The sphinx 

 moth, one of the lesser of the group. A larger individual might 

 sip the nectar, it is true, but its longer tongue would reach the 

 base of the tube without effecting the slightest contact with the 



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