gorgeous pink-and- white moccasin flower, the Stair 

 Flower of Minnesota. 



If time ever hangs heavily on your hands in camp, 

 hunt for seedling moccasins. They do exist and can 

 be found, but few are the campers and botanists ,that 

 have ever seen them. 



Nature seems fond of teasing the loverv of the out- 

 doors with many riddles; she delights in secrets and 

 contradictions. 



One day you may discover that white is the pre- 

 dominating color of the woodland flowers, and you 

 reason that white is the most conspicuous of all colors 

 and therefore most serviceable to attract insect visit- 

 ors. Your theory is beautifully proved by mountain 

 ash, and wild cherries, by the carpets of partridge 

 berry- and starflowers, and even the pale pink arbutus 

 of early spring is almost white, and so is the fragrant 

 Linnaea or twin flow T er. 



But when you look a little closer, you will find that 

 the rule of white flowers for the shady woods is far 

 from universal ; it is another of those principles which 

 Nature seems to have established just for the fun of 

 refuting it. In short, if you take a second census of 

 flower colors, you will find that a host of herbs and 

 shrubs display nothing more conspicuous than a pale 

 greenish yellow or greenish white, which in the world 

 of plants conies close to no color at all; but they are 

 not losing out in the competition for soil and light. 



The moose maple is one of the most common shrubs. 

 The clintonia with its pale yellow flowers is a charac- 

 teristic Northwoods plant. Nature has neglected its 

 flower but has painted its fruit a shining sapphire 



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