Ram's-Heads in Witch Hollow 105 



ravine formed during spring freshets and melting 

 snows. 



This pigmy of the Orchid Family— with its pale and 

 odorless flower and its unassuming habit of concealing 

 itself in the darkest recesses of our forests and swamps 

 —grows plentifully in its native haunts to the north. 



I had searched long and closely for the last month, 

 hoping to find the Large Purple - Fringed Orchis. 

 Thoreau says : "It is remarkable that this, one of 

 the fairest of all our flowers, should also be one of 

 the rarest — for the most part not seen at all. . . . 

 The village belle never sees this more delicate belle of 

 the swamp. ... A beauty reared in the shade of 

 a convent, who has never strayed beyond the convent 

 bell. Only the skunk or the owl, or other inhabitant 

 of the swamp, beholds it." ^ 



The Yellow-Fringed Orchis follows later, blooming 

 through August and September, — the blossoming 

 season of the flaming Cardinal-Flower, whose brilliant 

 coloring brightens the dark shades along streams in 

 moist woods. The Yellow-Fringed Habenarias are 

 found growing with the Pitcher Plant, and often fill 

 the sphagnous swamps with a glowing mass of orange- 

 flamed torches. Gray considered them among our 

 handsomest species of Habenaria. They are abundant 

 in swamps about New Haven, Connecticut, while the 

 White- Fringed Orchises seek the coast-Hnes of Massa- 

 chusetts, although also found sparingly in the high- 

 lands. 



^ Thoreau, Summer^ pp. 84-85. 1884. 



