INTELLIGENCE OF FLOWERS 



of the flower. It is out of the question that I should here, in 

 a few lines, summarize that abundant and fairylike biography. 

 Nevertheless, since we are on the subject of the intelligence 

 of flowers, it is necessary that we should give some idea of 

 the methods and the mental habits of that which excels all the 

 others in the art of compelling the bee or the butterfly to do 

 exactly what it wishes, in the prescribed form and time. 



i6 



It is not easy to explain without diagrams the extraordi- 

 narily complex mechanism of the Orchid. Nevertheless, I 

 will try to convey a fair notion of it with the aid of more or 

 less approximate comparisons, while avoiding, as far as pos- 

 sible, the use of technical terms such as retinaculum, lahellum, 

 rostellum and the rest, which evoke no precise image in the 

 minds of persons unfamiliar with botany. 



Let us take one of the most widely-distributed Orchids 

 in our regions, the Orchis maculata, for instance, or rather, 

 because it is a little larger and therefore more easily observed, 

 the Orchis latifolia, the Marsh Orchid, commonly known as 

 the Meadow-rocket. It is a perennial plant and grows to a 

 height of an inch or more. It is pretty frequent in the woods 



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