From Blue to Purple 



Large, or Early, Purple-fringed Orchis 



{Habenaria grandiflord) Orchid family 

 {H. fimbriata of Gray) 



Flowers — Pink-purple and pale lilac, sometimes nearly white ; 

 fragrant, alternate, clustered in thick, dense spikes from 3 to 

 15 in. long. Upper sepal and toothed petals erect ; the lip 

 of deepest shade, ^ in. long, fan-shaped, 3-parted, fringed 

 half its length, and prolonged at base into slender, long spur; 

 stamen united with style into short column; 2 anther 

 sacs slightly divergent, the hollow between them glutinous, 

 stigmatic. Stem : i to 5 ft. high, angled, twisted. Leaves : 

 Oval, large, sheathing the stem below; smaller, lance-shaped 

 ones higher up; bracts above. Root : Thick, fibrous. 



Preferred Habitat — Rich, moist meadows, muddy places, woods. 



Flo7vering Season — ^J une — August. 



Distribution — New Brunswick to Ontario; southward to North 

 Carolina, westward to Michigan. 



Because of the singular and exquisitely unerring adaptations 

 of orchids as a family to their insect visitors, no group of plants 

 has greater interest for the botanist since Darwin interpreted 

 their marvellous mechanism, and Gray, his instant disciple, 

 revealed the hidden purposes of our native American species, no 

 less wonderfully constructed than the most costly exotic in a 

 millionaire's hothouse. 



A glance at the spur of this orchid, one of the handsomest 

 and most striking of its clan, and the heavy perfume of the 

 flower, would seem to indicate that only a moth with a long 

 proboscis could reach the nectar secreted at the base of the 

 thread-like passage. Butterflies, attracted by the conspicuous 

 color, sometimes hover about the showy spikes of bloom, but it 

 is probable that, to secure a sip, all but possibly the very largest 

 of them must go to the smaller purple-fringed orchis, whose 

 shorter spur holds out a certain prospect of reward; for, in these 

 two cases, as in so many others, the flower's welcome for an 

 insect is in exact proportion to the length of its visitor's tongue. 

 Doubtless it is one of the smaller sphinx moths, such as we see 

 at dusk working about the evening primrose and other flowers 

 deep of chalice, and heavily perfumed to guide visitors to their 

 feast, that is the great purple-fringed orchid's benefactor, since 

 the length of its tongue is perfectly adapted to its needs. At- 

 tracted by the showy, broad lower petal, his wings ever in rapid 

 motion, the moth proceeds to unroll his proboscis and drain the cup, 

 that is frequently an inch and a half deep. Thrusting in his head, 



12 



