i8o PLANTS GROWING IN RICH OR ROCKY SOIL. 



beauty than the yellow species and we may fancy of a more 

 sensitive and retiring disposition. It is shy of approaching the 

 haunts of men but rather hides in the seclusion of some deep 

 wood or forest, where its loveliness is seen by the croning bee 

 and the soughing wind only. 



As the lip resembles a moccasin much more than a slipper, it 

 would seem that while we claim the yellow one for our own, we 

 should resign this orchis to the people that have loved it so 

 well. Like the Indian, it is becoming rarer every year, and un- 

 less we respect its love of freedom and cease from carelessly 

 picking it, we shall soon find that like him it has vanished from 

 us forever. 



SHOWY ORCHIS. 



Orchis spcctdbilis. 



FAMILY COLOUR ODOUR RANGE TIME OF BLOOM 



Orchis. Purplish piiik. Fragrant. New York to Georgia Aprils May. 



and zuestivard. 



Flowers : growing loosely in a terminal spike. The sepals and petals united 

 and forming a sort of crimson purple hood. The lip white and projecting 

 backward into a short spur. Leaves : two ; large, from the base of the scape; 

 ovate ; shiny. 



When the air is soft and sweet in the early spring v^'oods and, 

 looking first to one side and then to the other, we follow some 

 shaded pathway ; it may be that we shall find a number of the 

 showy orchids. They are not, however, showy as the name 

 would have us believe but very quaint and pretty. The 

 blossoms have queer little expressive faces, and we feel like 

 making friends with them at once and not standing on cere- 

 mony as would be most natural with many of the more preten- 

 tious members of their family. 



GREAT GREEN ORCHIS. 



Habetiaria orbiculata. 



FAMILY COLOUR ODOUR RANGE TIME OF BLOOM 



Orchis. Green and white. Scentless. Mostly north. July. 



Flowers: clustered loosely in a long spike. Corolla: two-lipped; the lip 

 white, almost linear, drooping and without a fringe ; the spur one and a half 



