STUDIES OF PLANT LIFE 



old and strong plants will occasionally bear two or even 

 three blossoms on one stem. The unfolded buds of this 

 species are most beautiful, having the appearance of slightly 

 flattened globes of delicately-tinted rice-paper. 



The large sac-like inflated lip is slightly depressed in 

 front, tinged with rosy pink, and striped. The pale thin 

 petals and sepals, two of each, are whitish at first, but turn 

 brown when the flower is more advanced towards maturity. 

 The sepals may be distinguished from the petals, the 

 former being longer than the latter and united at the 

 back of the flower. The column on which the stamens are 

 placed is three-lobed; the two anthers are placed one on 

 either side, under the two lobes; the central lobe is sterile, 

 thick, fleshy, and bent down, somewhat blunt and heart- 

 shaped. The root of the Lady's Slipper is a bundle of 

 white fleshy fibres. 



One of the remarkable characteristics of the flowers of 

 this genus, and of many of the natural order to which it 

 belongs, is the singular resemblance the organs of the 

 blossom bear to the face of some animal or insect. Thus 

 the face of an Indian hound may be seen in the Golden- 

 flowered Cypripedium pubescens; that of a sheep or ram, 

 with the horns and ears, in C. arictinum; while our 

 " Showy Lady's Slipper " displays the curious face and 

 peering black eyes of an ape. 



A rarer species is the 



STEMLESS LADY'S SLIPPER Cypripedium acaule (Ait.). 



It differs from the former species by the sac, which is 

 large and of a beautiful rose tint, exquisitely veined with 

 deeper red zigzag lines, not being closed but merely folded 

 over in front; this is not observable until you examine it 



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