SOME HUMBLE ORCHIDS 139 



inconspicuous as to its flowers, which are more 

 wholly greenish and are borne only four or five on 

 a stem. Its oval leaves, too, are usually smaller. 

 Though not generally common, when found it is 

 usually in large colonies, so that at a little dis- 

 tance the ground seems paved with the shining 

 leaves that remind one of the Maianthemum or 

 Small False Solomon's Seal of May woods. 



Both of the Twayblades flourish equally well in 

 dry or springy woods. In fact, I have found them 

 the two sturdiest and most constant members of the 

 race, for they will endure transplanting and adapt 

 themselves to new conditions very readily, if the 

 soil is in any way suited to their needs. A few 

 years ago I discovered a mixed colony blooming 

 bravely in the hard, blackened soil of a bit of 

 cleared woodland from which the stumps had been 

 burned and where the plow was already at the 

 work of turning it into a field. Under these cir- 

 cumstances even Time o' Year could not object to 

 the taking away of plants when their haunt had 

 literally vanished from around them, so I rescued 

 these Twayblades and put them into a wild, shady 

 part of the home acres. They not only lived, but 

 have spread, new plants appearing here and there 

 at a wide distance from their parents, showing 



