A LONG ISLAND MEADOW 



in the sunshine, and the dull spikes of the ragged- 

 fringed orchis erect themselves with inconspicu- 

 ous grace, their small flowers not impressing 

 the eye, although already the individual, deeply 

 fringed blossoms deserve more than passing no- 

 tice. 



Wandering among these chosen footholds of 

 the ragged-fringed orchis is a narrow, sluggish 

 stream, almost hidden from sight by clumps of 

 royal fern and by thickets of wild-roses and aza- 

 leas. Here the three-toothed orchis is in bud. At Thru- 

 first it seems likely that this is another species, as ^^im 

 the botanists assign Habenaria trident at a to " wet 

 woods," but later a careful analysis of a full-blown 

 blossom confirms me in my first conjecture. The 

 botanical description, " stem, slender ; leaf, single, 

 oblong ; flowers, greenish or whitish, very small ; 

 lip, wedge-oblong, truncate, and with three short 

 teeth at apex, the slender and slightly club-shaped 

 spur curved upward, longer than the ovary ; root, 

 of few fleshy fibres," seems to apply satisfactorily 

 to this little plant, with a possible exception in the 

 case of the " very small " flowers, the blossoms 

 which make up these spikes being small, but not 

 exceptionally so. 



We have crossed the meadow and reached a 

 tangled thicket of alder and bayberry bushes, of 

 wild-roses, with a few delicate blossoms still open 



109 



