206 MYSTERIES OF THE FLOWERS 



INDIAN-PIPE 



they turn their dry seed-pods 

 straight up into the air. This 

 is to prevent a sudden dis- 

 charge of the seeds all at once 

 and to make sure to shake them 

 out in small quantities when 

 the breezes come along. This 

 change in the Indian-pipe from 

 a drooping and white flower to 

 a brown and erect seed-pod 

 having the form of a little 

 brown jug is so great a trans- 

 formation as quite to disguise the plant and per- 

 haps to make us imagine that we have found a 

 new species altogether. 



Seeds must generally be kept carefully dry till 

 they are sown; hence the corrugated roof of the 

 poppy box, above described. But the lady's slipper 

 pod, which also is a "pepper-box," holds its seeds 

 tight and dry during moist 

 weather but on sunny and windy 

 days opens through slits up and 

 down its length and shakes out 

 its fine contents. The sketch 

 shows such a pod, externally and 

 in cross-section, with long, nar- 

 row lids which open or close over LADY'S SLIPPER 



