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slipper, or moccasin flower. Between two large 

 downy leaves which have jDrotected the growing bud 

 rises the simple scape, bearing on its toj) a solitary 

 pink-purple flower. There are three green spreading 

 arched sepals, and under these two narrow wrinkled 

 side petals of a greenish tint, looking like sepals ; 

 from between these depends a ver}'- large pink petal, 

 inflated and united at its lower edge into a pouch. 

 One botanist said if he " found a hundred growing 

 close together, each one would be a rarit}^" Woods, 

 hillsides, swamps maybe the home of this moccasin 

 flower, if it can but be let alone to mature seed ; 

 but its singular beauty provokes ruthless marauders 

 to tear up every specimen seen. A near relative of 

 this great purple orchis is the golden orchis, or 

 " whippoorwill's shoe." The stem of this lovely 

 plant will reach two feet in height, and bears broad, 

 oval, many-nerved leaves, placed opposite almost to 

 the top of the stem. The bright j^ellow flower is ter- 

 minal ; the three sepals are brownish, and two unite 

 under the lip ; the side petals are brown, very long, 

 and waved, we might say curly, like tresses; the lip 

 is a fine yellow, swelling into a pouch touched with 

 brown lines and shadows. A smaller yellow lady's- 

 slipper is like this, except that the color is richer, and 

 it has what many orchids lack — perfume. These 

 large, showy pouches of the slipper orchids attract 

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