ORCHID FAMILY. Orchidaceae. 



A handsome but rather small-flowered 

 Slipper orchis, with 3-4 light green narrow ellipti- 



Ciipripedium cal leaves ; the flower with two wavy and 

 candidum twisted narrow green petals, three broader, 



White green, purple-blotched sepals, and a pouch 



or lip open at the top by a fissure, white 

 outside, purple-streaked inside, containing nectar at its 

 base. Two of the sepals are joined together under the 

 lip. The column of Cypinpedium is flanked on either 

 side by a fertile stamen bearing a two-celled anther, 

 opening lidlike, the pollen loose and sticky-powdery 

 within — in this respect the genus is distinctly different 

 from those already described. The stigma is hidden be- 

 neath the third sterile stamen crowning the column, 

 exactly between the anthers ; it is moist and roughish. 

 In the process of fertilization by the insect, generally a 

 bee, the latter enters the pouch by the fissure, sucks the 

 nectar from its base, and escapes by crowding through 

 the small opening immediately beneath one of the an- 

 thers, receiving upon its back the sticky pollen in the 

 exit. In the next flower the insect brushes first against 

 the stigma, leaving some of the pollen, as it takes its 

 departure in the manner described. The rather rare C- 

 candidum is 6-10 inches high, and is found in bogs and 

 wet meadows from N. Y. and N. J., west to Minn, and 

 Mo. The name is from Kvnpi'^, Venus, and tcoSj^ov, 

 buskin, — Venus's buskin. 



This is a taller species, with a slender 

 Yellow 



Lady's Slipper ^^^^^ s^^^^' ^^^ showy fragrant yellow 

 Cypripedium flowers the petals and sepals of which are 

 pnbescens madder purple streaked ; the narrow pet- 



Yellow g^ig ^^.Q usually twisted, and the bright 



^ ^ golden yellow lip as well as the summit of 



the column is more or less blotched and striped with 

 madder purple. 12-24 inches high. Woods and wood- 

 land bogs. Me., south among the mountains to Ala., and 

 west. C. 2Kirviilorinn is a mere form of this species, 

 characterized by its smaller size and stronger color. (See 

 Gray's Manual, pg. 511, 6th edition.) 



94 



