WILD FLOWERS WHITE AND GREENISH 



Maine, Ontario, and Minnesota, south to Florida 

 and Tennessee. 



SHOWY LADY'S SLIPPER 



Cypripedium hirsutum. Orchid Family. 



This magnificent, fragrant Orchid has been con- 

 sidered the most beautiful of the Cypripediums and 

 some enthusiasts have even thought that it should be 

 crowned the queen of American wild flowers. It is 

 a shy, chaste beauty, and keeps aloof, hidden in 

 remote swamps and rich, low, mossy woods, where 

 its incomparable charm and subtle grace regale the 

 woods with their exquisite splendour. The com- 

 mon name should not be confused with that of the 

 earlier-blooming Showy Orchis, which bears a spike 

 of several flowers. The Showy Lady's Slipper raises 

 its stout, leafy, and downy stalk a foot or two high, and 

 may be found from June to September. The large, 

 downy, wavy-edged, pointed oval leaves are alter- 

 nating and clasping, and resemble the foliage of the 

 False Hellebore. The large, white, balloon-like floral 

 pouch is shaped something like an Indian moccasin, 

 and is softly stained on the upper side with pinkish 

 purple spots and stripes. The broad, spreading 

 sepals and petals are pure white, and are flared with 

 such a vigorous, animated gesture that one fancies 

 that they are almost trying to speak. Usually one, 

 and frequently two or three flowers hang from the 

 summit of the stalk. The root is used as a nerve 

 tonic, and the fine hairs with which the plant is covered 



213 



