126 SOME HUMBLE ORCHIDS 



recognize them fully as being "not just common 

 flowers." 



Beauty and fragrance are the chief attributes of 

 this royal race. Even though the seed -pod of one 

 genus is the Vanilla Bean of commerce, and one or 

 two of the tuberous -rooted species furnish a me- 

 dicinal paste, the tribe is not so notable for these 

 as that it harbors the dove-like winged petals of 

 the Holy Spirit Flower, the Butterfly Orchid of 

 the tropics, the Moccasin Flowers of our woods, 

 and the lovely fringed Orchises of the wet meadows. 



Orchids offer structural problems quite as intri- 

 cate as the higher mathematics. For every part of 

 the flower, every color, tint and spot, as well as the 

 specialized perfume, has its own share in the sys- 

 tem of signals which the Magician has furnished 

 the blossom, that it may call the insect best suited 

 to its needs. However, this whole subject of insect 

 fertilization belongs to science, to the biological - 

 botanist ; it is too profound and serious a matter 

 for a Summer day in the field, or to be awkwardly 

 fingered by the nature -lover who follows the flower - 

 trail for the pleasures of eye and ear, for the rest 

 it brings to the brain and the peace to the soul. 

 No less a man than Darwin has confessed that after 

 devoting twenty years to their study, he doubted if 



