IVam*s-Heads in WitcH Hollow^ 105 



ravine formed during spring freshets and melting 

 snows. 



This pigmy of the Orchid Family — with its pale and 

 odorless flower and its unassuming habit of concealing 

 itself in the darkest recesses of our forests and swamps 

 — grows plentifully in its native haunts to the north. 



I had searched long and closely for the last month, 

 hoping to find the Large Purple - Fringed Orchis. 

 Thoreau says : "It is remarkable that this, one of 

 the fairest of all our flowers, should also be one of 

 the rarest — for the most part not seen at all. . . . 

 The village belle never sees this more delicate belle of 

 the swamp. ... A beauty reared in the shade of 

 a convent, who has never strayed beyond the convent 

 bell. Only the skunk or the owl, or other inhabitant 

 of the swamp, beholds it." ' 



The Yellow-Fringed Orchis follows later, blooming 

 through August and September, — the blossoming 

 season of the flaming Cardinal-Flower, whose brilliant 

 coloring brightens the dark shades along streams in 

 moist woods. The Yellow-Fringed Habenarias are 

 found growing with the Pitcher Plant, and often fill 

 the sphagnous swamps with a glowing mass of orange- 

 flamed torches. Gray considered them among our 

 handsomest vSpecies of Habenaria. They are abundant 

 in swamps about New Haven, Connecticut, while the 

 White-Fringed Orchises seek the coast-lines of Massa- 

 chusetts, although also found sparingly in the high- 

 lands. 



' Thoreau, Summer, pp. 84-85. 1884. 



