Magenta to Pink 



fore not calculated to retain the sticky pollen masses, are not yet 

 flying when the showy orchis blooms. Bombus Americanorum, 

 which can drain the longest spurs, B. separatus, B. terricola, and, 

 rarely, butterflies as well, have been caught with its pollen masses 

 attached. The bee alights on the projecting lip, pushes her head 

 into the mouth of the corolla, and, as she sips the nectar from the 

 horn of plenty, ruptures by the slight pressure a membrane of the 

 pouch where two sticky buttons, to which two pollen masses are 

 attached, lie imbedded. Instantly after contact these adhere to the 

 round bare spots on her face, the viscid cement hardening before 

 her head is f^iirly withdrawn. Now the diverging pollen masses, 

 that look like antennae, fall from the perpendicular, by remarkable 

 power of contraction, to a horizontal attitude, that they may be 

 in the precise position to fertilize the stigma of the next flower 

 visited — just as if they possessed a reasoning intelligence I 

 Even after all the pollen has been deposited on the sticky stigmas 

 of various blossoms, stump-like caudicles to which the two little 

 sacs were attached have been found still plastered on a long-suffer- 

 ing bee. But so rich in nectar are the moisture-loving orchids 

 that, to obtain a draught, the sticky plasters which she must carry 

 do not seem too dear a price to pay. In this showy orchis the 

 nectar often rises an eighth of an inch in the tube, and sufficient 

 pressure to cause a rupture will eject it a foot. 



Rose or Sweet Pogonia; Snake-mouth 



{Pogonia ophioglossoides) Orchid family 



Flowers — Pale rose pink, fragrant, about i in. long, usually soli- 

 tary at end of stem 8 to 15 in. high, and subtended by a leaf- 

 like bract. Sepals and petals equal, oval, about y- in. long, the 

 lip spoon-shaped, crested, and fringed. Column shorter than 

 petals, thick, club-shaped. Anther terminal, attached to back 

 of column, i pollen mass in each of its 2 sacs. Stigma a flat- 

 tened disk below anther. Leaves : i to 3, erect, lance-oblong, 

 sometimes one with longfootstem from fibrous root. 



Preferred Habitat — Swamps and low meadows. 



Flowering Season — ^j une — ^J uly. 



Distribution — Canada to Florida, westward to Kansas. 



Rearing its head above the low sedges, often brightened with 

 colonies of the grass pink at the same time, this shy recluse of the 

 swamps woos the passing bee with lovely color, a fragrance like 

 fresh red raspberries, an alluring alighting place all fringed and 

 crested, and with the prospect of hospitable entertainment in the 

 nectary beyond. So in she goes, between the platform and the 

 column overhead, pushing first her head, then brushing her back 



84 



