AMONG THE WILD FLOWERS. 115 
spur is twice as long as the germen, and its 
presence helps at once to distinguish it from 
the genus Cephalanthera, of which the white 
flowers are sometimes mistaken for those of 
the Butterfly Orchis. 
But the most remarkable feature is, that 
whereas the law of vegetable structure requires 
that there should be found in all the flowers of 
this Order ¢ree stamens, only one, the central 
one, is actually developed in them, the two on 
either side being abortive; there is, however, 
one exception, in the case of Cypripedium, 
Lady’s Slipper, in whose solitary flowers the 
central stamen found in all our other Orchids is 
wanting, whilst the two lateral ones are present. 
Further it must be noticed that what we call 
the stamen in these flowers is simply an anther, 
which has its pollen-masses stalked, and some- 
times enclosed in a pouch. Sometimes the 
stigma, which is a viscid space in front of the 
column or germen, is prolonged into a 7os- 
tellum, so called, at the base of the anther-cells. 
The substance of this description may be 
simply, though less accurately, expressed by 
saying that the anther, constituting the stamen, 
is seated close upon the hollow of the tube of 
