140 MYSTERIES OF THE FLOWERS 



ROUND-LEAVED ORCHIS Orchis rotundifolia 

 June-July 



This is the only other species of the Orchis genus 

 in our part of America, and is much rarer than the 

 spectabilis. Its mechanism and procedure are pre- 

 cisely like those of its sister-flower. 



THE HABENARIAS 



These have learned the advantages of collectiv- 

 ism. No one would ever speak of them as "social- 

 ists" but would say, rather, that they assemble in 

 aristocratic and exclusive clubs, and thus are im- 

 posing and effective. Their tapering spikes of 

 flowers, of white, or purple, or gold, are dignified 

 and impressive, and each flower face bears the 

 stamp of personality. It must be a bold insect who 

 dares to interview them without an introduction. 

 The flowers play odd pranks upon their callers, 

 generally fastening upon head or eyes or tongue 

 of each insect a club of pollen, which shortly there- 

 after withers and droops forward. 



We wish to get a clear idea of the construc- 

 tion and customary conduct of these flowers, so 

 will gather and examine a specimen of the most 

 common and the easiest to find in wet, open 

 meadows. 



