5^8 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



us from its oddity, it is certainly much more 

 beautiful in its haunts. There the paler flow- 

 ers counteract the somewhat veiny quality 

 of the deeper, and the soft browns of the 

 hemlock-strewn ground act as a setting to 

 the whole, together with the surrounding 

 air of mystery making it one of the half 

 dozen New England Orchids for which true 

 landscape value may be claimed. 



Hereabout it is the earliest comer of the 

 tribe. Oh, no ! 1 am forgetting that there 

 is one of another household still earlier, the 

 Showy Orchis, which pierces the mold with 

 its lily-like leaves in late April or early May, 

 in company with Wake Robin, Bloodroot, 

 Anemones, and 'S'ellow \'iolets. Even Time 

 o' Year does not know its haunt in the deep 

 woods beyond Lonetown on the Ridgefield 

 road, where 1 cherish a few plants of it, so 

 rare is this region, by letting them alone in 

 the hope that they will increase, and that 

 the seed may be borne to neighboring 

 woods. 



This Orchis is most precise in its equip- 

 ments, and when in its first perfection of 

 bloom, it seems like an artificial plant of 

 wax from its broad leaves, sometimes six 

 inches in length and damp to the touch, to 

 the tip of its spike of half a dozen spurred, 

 shaded purple flowers with broad white or 

 violet tips. Where it is common, it often 

 gathers in crowds like the Moccasin Flowers 

 or Fringed Orchises, but with the few rare 

 plants of my discovering, each kept its dis- 

 tance from the other, as prim as children 

 made ready for a party, who sit perched on 

 chair edges in constrained attitudes to keep 

 finery untumbled until the moment for de- 

 parture comes. 



In common with many of the tribe the 

 Showy Orchis has, on opening, a delicate 

 earthy fragrance that turns to a decided 

 muskiness after the fertilization of the flow- 

 er ; a perfume inseparable from leaf-mold 

 blossoms to whatever tribe they may belong. 

 One quality it lacks, and that is graceful- 



ness. If its flower-stem grew longer before 

 the buds opened, so as to raise them well 

 above the leaves and give the wind a chance 

 to sway and bend them, the primness would 

 vanish, and the Showy Orchis be captivat- 

 ing indeed. At present it reminds one of a 

 lovely woman with so short a neck that she 

 cannot turn her head. 



Another Moccasin Flower, a taller cousin 

 of the Pink, has sent a few venturesome 

 pioneers over the hemlock ridge to test the 

 climate and soil on the coast side of it, for 

 this family needs bracing air and usually 

 keeps well away from salt water influences. 



The Yellow Moccasin, or, as the French 

 call it, Le Soulier de Notre Dame, comes in 

 flower as the Showy Orchis passes, and pre- 

 cedes the exquisitely painted Showy Mocca- 

 sin Flower, whose splendid rose-and-white 

 blossoms, often two on a stem, seek high 

 places and are seldom found in abundance 

 south of Maine, New Hampshire and Ver- 

 mont. It is called Regina, for it is queen 

 of a princely family. 



The Yellow Moccasin is a striking flower 

 of the high shaded woodland landscape. 

 The uncleft shoe itself is of a clear smooth 

 yellow, veined with purple ; the other two 

 purplish petals hang as twisted strings, 

 with a hood-like sepal arching between. 

 The flowers, singly or often in pairs, are 

 raised upon a stout, leafy stalk a foot or 

 two above the ground, clearing the more 

 woody undergrowth which serves as a back- 

 ground to deepen their color. 



How the eye loves to linger upon yellow 

 flowers ! Of the three primary colors, yel- 

 low always seems to me the most harmonious 

 under all conditions, from the first Marsh 

 Marigold to the last brave wand of Golden- 

 rod. Even after hard frosts, the same cheer- 

 ful color wraps the low thickets wherever 

 Witch Hazel blossoms, giving the landscape, 

 through this last flower of the season, a 

 forecast of the willow tints of early spring. 

 Roughly speaking, without attempting a 



