130 :fi3otani5 



bees, who thrust in tlieh' heads after honey, and so 

 reach the short stamens and pistils. The pistils are 

 particularly rough and moist, and to them promptly 

 cleaves any pollen the visitor may have collected 

 from some adjacent flov»^er. 



The " showy orchis," whose many 2:)ink and white 

 flowers grow in a long spike, is, like the moccasin 

 flower, an early bloomer. The leaves are nearl}^ 

 opposite and sheathing, growing upon the stem ; the 

 flower has leaf-like bracts protectively placed near it, 

 it is more widely opened than the slipper varieties, 

 and the lower lip is white, with a Avavy outline. 

 This orchis is very much like that ornament of the 

 English meadows which Shakespeare in " Hamlet " 

 refers to by the name "long purples." 



A small, but exquisite orchis is a native of cran- 

 berry bogs ; the corolla is of a raspberry-pink tint, 

 and the fragrance is strongly raspberry ; four or five 

 of these delicate spires of bloom will perfume a whole 

 room, and never fail to deceive people into saying, 

 " Why, -where are the raspberries ?" Near this or- 

 chis usually grows a variety closely like it, yet 

 with distinct differences, the purple-fringed orchis. 

 Neither exceed ten inches in height, and the bloom 

 is fugitive, while the lady's-slippers will retain their 

 beauty for several days. 



The Northern white orchis is tall, and has white 



