142 



SOME HUMBLE ORCHIDS 



CALOPdcON 



to middle July, comes the Grass Pink or Calopogon 

 of Gray and the earlier botanists. Its first bloom- 

 ing is dated variously in my outdoor journals from 

 June 19 in 1890 to June 28 in 1900, but as there are 

 often ten or a dozen florets on a single stem, in 

 moderate weather two weeks may pass between 

 the opening of the lowest flower to the fading of 

 the topmost on the scape. 



The name of Grass Pink is decidedly in- 

 appropriate for it, and suggestive of a low- 

 growing plant like the Creeping 

 Phlox, which is also called by 

 the same name locally. Calopo- 

 gon, from* the Greek signify- 

 ing beautiful beard, in reference 

 to its fringed lip, is far more 

 r suitable. 



J Here and there we find it 

 1 j following in the wake of Po - 

 gonia ; its slender stalks, a foot or 

 two in height, with long, grass - 

 like leaves, bearing the flowers well 

 above the grass and low growths, to 

 rest against a background of tall Cin- 

 namon and Royal Ferns or Brakes. 

 To find Calopogon playing its part 



