CYPRIPEDIUM PUBESCENS. 

 LARGE YELLOW MOCCASIN FLOWER. 



NATURAL ORDER, ORCHIDACE/E. 



Cypripedium PUBESCENS, Willdenow. — Stem leafy, leaves broad-lanceolate, acuminate; sepals 

 lanceolate; lip shorter than the linear, twisted petals, compressed laterally, convex both 

 above and below ; sterile stamen triangular, acute ; plant pubescent. Stems usually sev- 

 eral from the same root, one foot or more high. Leaves three to six inches long by two to 

 three wide, many-veined, clasping at the base. Flower mostly solitary. Segments four, 

 greenish with purple stripes and spots, the lower bifid, composed of two united sepals, the 

 lateral two to three inches long by three lines wide, wavy and twisted. Lip moccasin- 

 shaped, bright yellow, spotted inside, with a roundish aperture. (Wood's Class-Book of 

 Botany. See also Gray's Manual of the Botany of the Northern United States, and 

 Chapman's Flora of the Southern United States.) 



HE large yellow is one of the best known of the Moc- 

 casin Flowers ; and yet there are interesting- facts con- 

 nected with it that do not seem to be well known to botanists, 

 or at least are not noted in the descriptions some of them give. 

 These little facts, however, teach the student some interesting les- 

 sons, and it is chiefly because Professor Wood has noted some 

 of these that we have selected for our chapter the description 

 from his work. For instance, we read in most accounts of our 

 species that the flowers are bright yellow, that the petals are linear 

 and twisted, and that the lateral sepals are of such a given width ; 

 and the student is liable to suppose that nature has an exact 

 character for her species, whereas her limits are elastic, and we 

 may almost always look for some variations from even the best 

 written descriptions without any ground for imagining we have 

 a new species because the plant in question and the most 

 popular description do not exactly correspond. Our present 

 illustration of the large yellow Moccasin Flower will be found 



(73) 



