THE RCIlins OF NEW ENGLAND. 



37 



larger species. The Pink and the Showy Lady's Slippers have 

 two of their sepals " united into one, under the lip," while both 

 Yellow Lady's Slippers have the united sepals, " cleft at the 

 apex." 



In Northern New England, one is sometimes fortunate 

 enough to gather with the Yellow Lady's Slippers, especially 

 with the dwarf species, the Ram's-head Lady's Slipper, C. 

 arietinum, the rarest species North America produces, and to 

 me the most attractive ; a small plant, perhaps a foot high, 

 with dark green leaves and a fragrant, purplish-pink and 

 white, veined lip, which has a hairy, triangular orifice and is 

 small enough to be put into a child's thimble. Far fetched as 

 the popular name appears to be, the reader will notice if he 

 holds the page containing the illustration of this flower in a cer- 

 tain position that the protuberant lip has a slight resemblance 

 to a nose, and that the curving petals — often decidedly curled — 

 may be fancied to represent the animal's horns. The sterile 

 stamen is blunter than in the other species and the three 

 sepals are separate. " This Lady's Slipper," says Meehan, " is 

 a connecting link between Cypripedium and other genera of the 

 Orchis family. In many Orchids the outer whorl of three (the 

 calyx in other flowers) can be readily traced ; but it is one of 

 the peculiarities of Cypripedium to have apparently but two. 

 . . . As this union of the sepals was formerly considered one 

 of the chief foundations of the genus Cypripedium, some bot- 

 anists made this (Ram's-head) into a distinct genus, on account 

 of its three-leaved calyx, under the name of Arietinum Ameri- 

 canum." 



This little flower has been known to botanists only since 

 about 1808, when it was discovered near Montreal. It has been 

 reported from the Saskatchawan Valley, from Minnesota and 

 from Nebraska ; in New England it is so rare, except in the 

 extreme north, that many a collector who has it in an her- 

 barium has never seen it growing, and it is so incon- 



