WILD FLJOWERS YELLOW AND ORANGE 



borders of moist, open woods. The beautiful orange 

 yellow flowers are closely clustered in a large, rounded, 

 oblong, terminal spike, and are exceedingly handsome 

 and very attractive as the tall, slender, leafy stalk 

 sways its brilliant, fringy torch in the long grasses 

 of late summer. It grows from twelve to thirty inches 

 high, and its long, pointed, lance-shaped leaves pass 

 suddenly into pointed, bract-like leaflets, as they 

 approach the blossoms. The rather large, showy 

 flowers have bluntly pointed, broad oval or almost 

 circular sepals, two of which are ear-like and spread- 

 ing, while the upper one extends forward, and is hood- 

 like. The petals are much smaller, and generally 

 toothed. The long, drooping, oblong lip is deeply 

 cut into a fine fringe, and is prolonged into a very 

 long, slender, curving spur. The buds resemble the 

 golden balls of a miniature, drum-major's baton. 

 This magnificent Orchid is one of the most interesting 

 of our early autumn wild flowers, and it fairly quickens 

 the pulse to come suddenly upon it for the first time 

 during the season. Personally, I always feel the same 

 tingling sensation as that which I have experienced 

 when finding for the first time, the nests of our rarest 

 birds in remote recesses. The Greek name Habenaria 

 signifies Rein Orchis. This group is characterized by 

 its lofty stems and its plumy wands of many flowers. 

 It contains about four hundred species which are 

 distributed throughout the world and of which about 

 forty are found in North America. It also contains 

 some of the larger plants of our native Orchids. The 



109 



