THe Queen of tKe Indian Moccasin- 

 Flo^wers 



The rounded world is fair to see, 



Nine times folded in mystery ; 



Though baffled seers cannot impart 



The secret of its laboring heart, 



Throb thine with Nature's throbbing breast, 



And all is clear from east to west. 



Emerson, Nature. 



BETWEEN May 30th and June 8th, I made 

 short excursions to the Bog of Oracles above 

 the Glen of Comus. On the latter date I 

 found my first blossoms of the season, of the 

 Showy Queen of the Moccasin- Flowers {Cypripedium 

 regincs), the white sepals and petals standing fully un- 

 furled, but still lacking the rich magenta-pink on the 

 crest of the slippers which another week's time would 

 give them. One feature this season, among these 

 plants, was the unusual number of two buds on a 

 single scape. While a single blossom is generally 

 found on a stalk, I discovered now that nearly every 

 other stem bore two buds. 



At the same time and in the same place, along the 

 edges of decaying logs on the borders of Ball Brook, 

 grew the spikes of the Tall Green Orchis {Habenaria 



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