114 WHITE TO GREEN 



There is another very large species of the same genus, much 

 resembUng H. dilatata, but taller, and sometimes growing to 

 the immense height of five feet. It is called H. leiicostachys^ 

 or Giant Orchis, and, like the Bog Orchis, has snow-white 

 fragrant flowers. 



MOUNTAIN LADY'S SLIPPER 



Cypripedimn passerimun. Orchid Family 



Stems: stout, leafy. Leaves: ovate, acuminate. Flowers: solitary or two ; 

 petals and sepals pale green ; lip dull white, veined, and with bright red 

 spots ; anther ovate-triangulate, yellow with red spots. Fruit : capsule 

 drooping. 



This is the small white Lady's Slipper, and its discovery in 

 the mountains is of sufficiently rare occurrence to be quite an 

 event in the history of the day to the ordinary traveller. It is 

 usually in shady places, where the soil is moist and rich, that 

 these little velvety orchids are found. The dull white sacs, 

 hairy inside and spotted with bright red, are quite unmistak- 

 able ; the stalks are leafy and usually bear only a single ter- 

 minal flower, though occasionally two shell-like blooms adorn 

 the fat juicy stem, one at its apex and the other a couple of 

 inches lower down. 



There is a rich tropical beauty about orchids strongly sug- 

 gestive of the Orient. They do not seem to be at home in the 

 stern wild mountain fastnesses, but rather to belong to a world 

 of cloudless skies and riotous foliage, where exotic flowers are 

 set like jewels in the lavish luxuriance of the clement zone. 



WHITE TWISTED-STALK 



St7'eptoptts ample xifolius. Lily Family 



Rootstock short, stout, horizontal, covered with thick fibrous roots. 

 Stems: glabrous, branching below the middle. Leaves: acuminate at the 

 apex, cordate-clasping at the base, glaucous beneath. Flowers: one to 

 two, greenish-white. Fruit: red oval berry, many-seeded. 



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