CHAPTER Y 
REMARKABLE FLOWERS AND LEAVES. 
WHEN we are acquainted with the structure and 
srowth of plants, there is not one that does not 
appear remarkable to us, no matter how small or 
how common it may be. The microscope has taught 
us that “small” and “insignificant” are not synony- 
mous terms, and a little study will convince any one 
that the meanest and commonest wayside weed is as 
much entitled to our respect for beauty as the most 
gorgeous and choicely perfumed exotic our conserva- 
tories afford. But wonderful as all plants—and all 
living things—are, there are some which stand out 
more prominently than others on account of excep- 
tional beauty, grotesqueness, or other peculiarity of 
form. Thus among the Orchids, an exceedingly 
interesting group of plants, we have one species 
in which each blossom resembles a fly; others of 
the same group are supposed to bear a resemblance 
to a bee, a spider, a lizard, a human hand, and seve- 
ral other forms. Then there are plants which have 
their leaves or flowers so constructed that any insect 
of a prying nature is made to suffer for its inquisi- 
tiveness by being held a prisoner and killed. But to 
these more extended reference is made elsewhere in 
> 
