ORCHID FAMILY. Orchldacese. 



__,. , _ . A handsome but rather small-flowered 



White Lady's . . , A . _ . ,. , A ... . 



Slipper orchis, with 3-4 light green narrow elhpti- 



Cypripedium cal leaves ; the flower with two wavy and 



candidum twisted narrow green petals, three broader, 



White green, purple-blotched sepals, and a pouch 



May-early July i. . .. . .* i . .. 



* or lip open at the top by a fissure, white 



outside, purple-streaked inside, containing nectar at its 

 base. Two of the sepals are joined together under the 

 lip. The column of Cypripedium is flanked on either 

 side by a fertile stamen bearing a two-celled anther, 

 opening lidlike, the pollen loose and sticky-powdery 

 within — in this respect the genus is distinctly different 

 from those already described. The stigma is hidden be- 

 neath the third sterile stamen crowning the column, 

 exactly between the anthers ; it is moist and rough ish. 

 In the process of fertilization by the insect, generally a 

 bee, the latter enters the pouch by the fissure, sucks the 

 nectar from its base, and escapes by crowding through 

 the small opening immediately beneath one of the an- 

 thers, receiving upon its back the sticky pollen in the 

 exit. In the next flower the insect brushes first against 

 the stigma, leaving some of the pollen, as* it takes its 

 departure in the manner described. The rather rare C, 

 candidum is 6-10 inches high, and is found in bogs and 

 wet meadows from N. Y. and N. J., west to Minn, and 

 Mo. The name is from KvitpiS, Venus, and noSiov, 

 buskin, — Venus's buskin. 



This is a taller species, with a slender 

 Lady ^Slipper leaf ^ stem > and *<>wy fragrant yellow 

 Cypripedium flowers the petals and sepals of which are 

 pubescens madder purple streaked ; the narrow pet- 



Yellow a i s are usua iiy twisted, and the bright 



ay U y golden yellow lip as well as the summit of 



the column is more or less blotched and striped with 

 madder purple. 12-24 inches high. Woods and wood- 

 land bogs. Me., south among the mountains to Ala., and 

 west. C. parviUorum is a mere form of this species, 

 characterized by its smaller size and stronger color. (See 

 Gray's Manual, pg. 511, 6th edition.) 



94 



