Kam's-Head Moccasin-Flo^wers 



41 



in cedar wood, in the neighborhood of BurHngton, 

 where he reports a colony of twenty plants." 



Arriving at Lorenna's home, my hopes were realized, 

 and I was introduced to the first fresh specimen I had 

 ever seen of the Cypripcdium arictinum. I^ater I was 

 shown the spot where the flower grew. I was hoping 

 to find several plants, but was disappointed. I studied 

 the soil and locality, however, which gave me the clue 

 for fresh trails. We had followed a winding wood- 

 road that led from the Centre Road into the deep pine 

 forests on the Amidon Farm, where the ground was 

 strewn with piny needles and glittering with the Stars- 

 of-Bethlehem, Goldthread blossoms, and the Painted 

 Wake Robins. The broken stem that had borne the 

 conical shoe stood on a rocky hillside, at the base of a 

 chestnut tree. A dwarfed pine seedling was also strug- 

 gling to grow in the hard soil, among the fibrous roots 

 of the Ram's-Head. The two had probably taken root 

 there at the same time. We marked the spot, and 

 sheltered the plant from the browsings of cows, by 

 planting dead twigs near it. 



Before the evening was ended, Lorenna's mother had 

 discovered that others besides myself must have made 

 excursions afield and abog for flowers and herbs, and 

 no doubt at some time in their lives must have also 

 read poetry and made sketches. She became very 

 much in earnest over a text-book on botany, and de- 

 sired Lorenna to have a child's manual. 



Baldwin writes of the Ram's-Head Cypripcdium : 

 ' Heury Baldwin, Orchids of New Englatid, p. 38, 1894. 



