THE LAST OF THE FLOWERS 85 



bubbles on the autumn grass. The saffron used to colour 

 cakes and other dishes is procured from the long stigmas, 

 which droop over the edge of the blossom when it opens 

 wide to the September sun. Unfortunately this beautiful 

 plant is poisonous to cattle, and is a dangerous weed in 

 pastures where it grows abundantly. 



The lady's tresses orchid is as characteristically fond of 

 the short turf of dry pastures and limestone hills as the 

 meadow saffron of damp and grassy hollows. It is a true 

 autumn-blooming plant, seldom opening until well into 

 September, and sometimes lasting into October. All our 

 British orchises have a share of the curious and fascinating 

 qualities which reach their height in many of the tropical 

 species and their hothouse varieties ; and although the lady's 

 tresses is a humble and inconspicuous little plant at first 

 sight, it has plenty of attraction. It has a slender stem 

 about five inches high, the upper part of which bears a suc- 

 cession of small dull white blossoms running spirally up to 

 the point. This spiral arrangement gives a plaited appear- 

 ance to the spike, and so suggests the plant's English name. 

 Besides this neat and delicate growth, the flowers have a 

 scent at evening as sweet and as powerful in proportion to 

 their size as the butterfly orchis of the June beech-woods or the 

 fragrant orchis of the hayfields. The blossoms are so small 

 that they arrest the eye by their pattern rather than their 

 colour ; and the plant grows so sparely and slenderly among 

 the dry bent grasses that it hardly makes an exception to 

 the general absence of white in the autumn flora. A more 

 marked exception to the prevailing colour of the time is 

 afforded by the blue autumn squill. There are two kinds of 

 squill, one blooming in autumn and one in spring. Both 

 are very abundant in their chosen haunts on the turf of sea- 

 cliffs ; but the blue of the autumn species is almost as pure 



