GREATER TWAYBLADE 



Liparis lilifolia ( L. I Rich. 



May - June 



Deep, wooded ravines 



Tlir wocKled ravine between the sandy hills is 

 shady and moist in ilay. The new leaves on 

 the oaks are dciisi> now and hrin? sliade wliitli 

 lor iiiiiiiy iiioiiilis has been absent from the woodhinds. Ferns uncurl and 

 grow tall. Nettles are developing stiff stinging hairs. The grosbeak 

 is nesting in the tangle of bittersweet and tlie towhees have a nest with 

 young on the ground beneath the ferns. At the bottom of the ravine 

 a little rivulet, diy in mid-summer, still runs rapidly over the slialy 

 stones, and drops down, in a series of tiny waterfalls to the lower levels 

 where the water thrush teeters and sings. 



In this quiet, secluded, moist spot in an Illinois ravine, there springs 

 into being an orchid. Froni its two ])erfect. pale green, cupping leaves 

 just above the ground there is a stout, glossy stem thickly set with buds. 

 Those, as the days pass, extend themselves, each on its own stalk, at 

 angles from the stem, and the lowest buds at last o)ien into a strange, 

 ornamental blossom which could be nothing less than an orchid. Magni- 

 fied in size, it might be a strange tropical six'cies in a Brazilian jungle. 

 But this is the greater twayblade in an Illinois woods. 



The flowers are broadly li])j)ed. silky maroon creations of form and 

 color, with dangling, greenish and ruddy petals and honey tubes. There 

 in the ravine the twayblade contains in itself something of an aloof 

 personality which sets it apart from all other idants growing there. This, 

 it says, is an orchid, a rnre. beautiful, intricate mechanism. 



ion 



