436 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



could never struggle through ; nor can he until his back 

 has rubbed along the sticky overhanging stigma, which 

 is furnished with minute, rigid, sharply pointed papillae, 

 all directed forward and placed there for the express 

 purpose of combing out the pollen he has brought from 

 another flower on his back or head. The imported pollen 

 having been safely removed, he still has to struggle on 



IN THE CASE OF THE LARGER YELLOW LADY-SLIPPER, WE 

 OCCASIONALLY MEET WITH A PLANT WHERE TWO FLOWERS 

 OCCUR ON ONE STEM 



Fig. 7 Note^ the upper one of the twin flowers; it shows very well that, 

 in the passing of the bloom, the withering begins at the toe of the 

 "slipper." 



toward freedom through one of the narrow openings, 

 where an anther alrriost blocks his way. 



"As he works outward, this anther, drawn downward 

 on its hinge, plasters his back with yellow granular pol- 

 len as a parting gift, and away he flies to another lady- 

 slipper, to have it combed out by the sticky stigma as de- 

 scribed above. The smallest bees can squeeze through the 

 passage without paying toll. To those of the Andrena 

 and Halictus tribe the flower is evidently best adapted. 

 Sometimes the largest bumblebees, either unable or un- 

 willing to get out by the legitimate route, bite their way 

 to liberty. Mutilated sacs are not uncommon. But 

 when unable to get out by fair means, and too bewildered 

 to escape by foul, the large bee must sometimes perish 

 miserably in his gorgeous prison." 



In his book entitled, "My Studio Neighbors," William 

 Hamilton Gibson has likewise given us a most interest- 

 ing account of the fertilization of the Pink Lady-slipper 

 by bumblebees ; it is well worth looking up and reading. 



F. Schuyler Mathews says of the Showy Lady-slipper 



that "This is perhaps the most beautiful plant of the 

 whole genus. The stem is stout and leafy to the top, the 

 flower fragrant ; its point is white, more or less blotched 

 or stained with velvety light crimson-magenta, the 

 sepals and petals white, broad, and not longer than the 

 rotund pouch. The sterile stamen, long-heart-shaped, 

 stained yellow at the tip and spotted crimson, crowns the 

 column." His colored cut of the flower and leaves 

 is rather attractive, and gives us a fairly good idea of 

 the original. 



One of the quaintest remarks made about the Yellow 

 Lady-slipper comes from the pen of Alice Lounsberry. 

 She says : "The color of this orchis is above all enchant- 

 ing, while the coyness of its shape and the twirling side 

 strings breathe out the essence of coquetry. There is an 

 alertness, a crispness of expression about the out-turned 

 toe which makes us fancy it is only awaiting the waving 

 of some fairy's wand to spring out with its companions 

 and mingle in a gay woodland dance." 



AS PROFESSOR GRAY TELLS US, THE LEAF OF THE YELLOW 

 LADY-SLIPPER IS MANY-NERVED AND PLAITED, SHEATHING 

 AT THE BASE 



Fig. 9 This gives the enlarged ovaries of the Yellow Lady-slipper 

 (C. pubescent), two on one stem and one on the other. The insect is one 

 of the "true bugs" (Coreidae). 



What imagination some people do possess ! Her figure 

 of the flower is something after the order of the one 

 here reproduced in Figure 8, only hers is colored. But 

 it would seem that there must be many people still left 

 in the world who can complacently gaze upon that picture 

 without having such fantastic thoughts ariseintheirminds. 



