178 



WILD FLOWER FAMILIES 



slender, suggestive of blades of grass, while the 

 rather small white flowers are spirally arranged 

 in three rows on the sides toward the upper end 



of the flower stalk 

 which averages about a 

 foot in height. These 

 flowers are visited by 

 bees, which begin at the 

 bottom of the spiral 

 and work upward. They 

 effect the pollination of 

 the blossoms through 

 one of the curious con- 

 trivances for which the 

 Orchid family is fa- 

 mous. The pollen is in 

 a mass which you may 

 see if you will insert the 

 point of a lead pencil 

 into the flower and then 

 withdraw it. The deli- 

 cate odor of the flowers 

 has been celebrated by 

 Emily Shaw Forman in 

 these lines : 



LADIKS' TKliSSKS 



Fragrance like thine no rose of June can yield; 



No lily can eclipse thy snow, dear prize, 



Flung backward from sweet summer as she flies. 



