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SOME HUMBLE ORCHIDS 



spikes of purplish, green -winged, broad -lipped flowers 

 that suggest the form of many a greenhouse Orchid. 

 The Great or Lily -leaved Tway- 

 blade is by far the more striking of the 

 two, and when a dozen plants grow 

 in a circle they are of distinct landscape 

 value. This Twayblade grows from a 

 bulb, and the bulbs are usually found 

 in pairs, one bearing the leaves and 

 flower-stalk, the sec- 

 ond either not fully de- 

 veloped or else having a pair of 

 smaller leaves, but not yielding 

 flowers until the second year. 

 The leaves, though primarily of 

 an unctuous sap-green color, are 

 often, perhaps through prema- 

 ture ripeness, streaked with yel- 

 lows, purples and other Autumn -leaf -hues, which 

 add greatly to the beauty of the plant, though if 

 they were so pictured, the rigid botanist would 

 declare the colors unauthorized. All of which proves 

 that the plant seen in the landscape, like the liv- 

 ing bird in the tree, is often plus some charming 

 quality not accorded it by the text -books. 



The smaller Twayblade, or Fen Orchis, is quite 



