THE ORCHIDS OF NEW ENGLAND 



75 



fume delightful. The lip is free from the column, but the 

 flowers and scape have the general structure of those of the 

 Coral-roots. 



While the Aplectrum grows as far north in America as the 

 Saskatchewan Valley, it is rare in New England. The earliest 

 date obtained from Connecticut is June 6th, and in Central 

 Vermont and Western New Hampshire its mean time of bloom- 

 ing would appear to be June 20th, though once in a while it 

 ignores set times and celebrates its birthday in May. A Michi- 

 gan botanist writing to the American Naturalist some years ago, 

 called it " a shy bloomer." It is very abundant near Detroit, 

 but he had watched for years without seeing any flowers, and 

 although buds formed on transplanted specimens they never 

 matured. I have been more fortunate myself, both in finding 

 flowers from year to year and in transplanting, but have always 

 been struck with the disproportion between the number of 

 flower stalks and the number of leaves. The bulbs have a rank 

 smell, and to my thinking are fully as disagreeable to the taste, 

 but I know persons who profess to be fond of them. 



The silent procession seems to be dwindling down and be- 

 coming sad-colored, but it is time to expect the most regal of 

 our Orchids, the Showy Lady's Slipper, C. spectabile, whose 

 tropical lustiness of growth one can hardly attribute to our 

 climate. The first time I found the plant, I was working my 

 way out of a low, wet wood, where the osmundas grew tall and 

 palm-like, and coming suddenly upon a group of what were 

 unmistakably Lady's Slippers, I was as startled as though a 

 gaudy cockatoo had fluttered by. Already, it was the last of 

 May, the broad plaited leaves reached, on their stalwart stems, 

 above my knees. Could this be their natural home, and if so, 

 must they not have made a compact with August and be wait- 

 ing for an intense heat to call out their great flowers ? 



This species displays a crimped, shell-shaped lip that varies 

 from a rich pink-purple blotched with white to pure white ; 



