FLOWERS AND OTHER STUDIES FOR THE SUMMER OF 1918 



435 



THE SEVERAL SPECIES OF THE MOCCA- 

 SIN FLOWER OR LADY-SLIPPER ARE ALL 

 VERY CONSPICUOUS REPRESENTATIVES 

 OF THE ORCHIS FAMILY (Orchidaceae). 



Fig. 4 This flower is the stemless Lady-Slipper 



(Cypripedium acaule) of Gray, by many called 



the Pink Lady-Slipper on account of the lively 



pink color of its lip. Here we see the full 

 flower contrasted with the wilted one (as the 



seed-pod or ovary forms). The ovary is in 

 plain sight. 



as the pink lady's slipper also enter- 

 tains her guests in. Fine hairs with- 

 in secrete tiny drops of fluid at their 

 tips a secretion which hardens into 

 a brittle crust, like a syrup's, when 

 it dries. Darwin became especially 

 interested in this flower through a 

 delightful correspondence with Pro- 

 fessor Asa Gray, who was the first 

 to understand it, and he finally 

 secured a specimen to experiment 

 on." 



Darwin's description of the fer- 

 tilization of the Lady-slipper is a 

 truly wonderful story in botany, and 

 it is to be much regretted that it is 

 too long to reproduce in this place, 

 while to abbreviate it would be a 

 great shame ; it would surely spoil 

 the lesson it carries. 



The solitary flowers of the Pink 

 Lady-slipper or Moccasin Flower are 

 delightfully fragrant, and it is a 

 pleasure to meet with the plant in 

 the deep woods where it grows 

 among the great rocky boulders; in 

 fact, it is a pleasure that remains 

 with one for a lifetime. Unfortu- 

 nately, our Pink Lady-slipper is be- 



coming extremejy rare over large areas 

 where it was formerly very abundant. 

 This is due to thoughtless and unin- 

 structed picnickers and joy-riders, who 

 leave their machines to ramble far and 

 wide through the woods where form- 

 erly the moccasin flowers grew in 

 numbers. Many of these people can- 

 not forbear picking every pretty 

 flower they can reach, and our beauti- 

 ful pink lady-slipper, for very obvious 

 reasons, is one that is most often so 

 destroyed. In scores of localities 

 where it once grew plentifully, 

 Cypripedimn acaule is now no longer 

 to be found. 



Popular writers on our flowers seem 

 to have vied with each other in their 



WE HAVE A SMALLER AS WELL AS A 

 LARGER YELLOW LADY-SLIPPER; THE 

 SPECIES HERE SHOWN IS THE LATTER 

 (C. pttbescens). 



Kig. 6 A related species is known as the Ram's 

 Head Lady-slipper (C. arietinum), and for a 

 very obvious reason. 



fanciful descriptions of these extra- 

 ordinary plants. Elaine Goodale 

 wrote of the Pink Moccasin Flower : 

 "Graceful and tall the slender, droop- 

 ing stem, 

 With two broad leaves below, 

 Shapely the flower so lightly poised 

 between, 

 And warm her rosy glow." 

 Long ago Darwin pointed out that 

 cross-fertilization results in offspring 



which vanquish the offspring of 

 self-fertilization in the struggle for 

 existence, which is distinctly true of 

 these Lady-slippers; for of all oth- 

 ers they are, through their peculiar 

 structure, more than protected 

 against the evils of self-fertilization. 

 Through the ages they have finally 

 acquired a structure, in so far as the 

 flower is concerned, that makes self- 

 pollination an almost impossible oc- 

 currence. 



In this connection one of our most 

 popular writers on flowers says that 

 the "fissure down the front of the 

 pink lady-slipper [see cuts illustrat- 

 ing this article] is not so wide but 

 that a bee must use some force to 

 push against its elastic sloping sides, 

 and enter the large banquet chamber 

 where he finds generous entertain- 

 ment secreted among the fine white 

 hairs in the upper part. Presently 

 he has feasted enough. Now one 

 can hear him buzzing about inside, 

 trying to find a way out of the trap. 

 Toward the two little gleams of 

 light through apertures at the end 

 of a passage beyond the nectary 

 hairs, he at length finds his way. 

 Narrower and narrower grows the 

 passage, until it would seem as if he 



THIS IS A MOST PERFECT SPECIMEN OF 

 THE PINK MOCCASIN FLOWER IN FULL 

 BLOOM. 



Fig. 5 Note the venation on the great, in- 

 flated, pink lip, and the curious arrangement 

 of the structures back of it. 



