46 YELLOW LADY'S SLIPPER. 



(L. perennis), the larger White Trillium, and other lovely wild flowers, 

 forming a charming contrast to their various colours and no less 

 varied forms. 



The stem of the larger Moccasin flower is thick and leaf}^, each 

 bright green, many-nerved leaf sheathing the flowers before they 

 open. The flowers are from one to three in number ; bent forward ; 

 drooping gracefully downwards. The golden sac-like lip is elegantly 

 striped and spotted with ruby red ; the twisted narrow petals, and 

 sepals, two in number of each kind, are of a pale fawn colour, some- 

 times veined and lined with a deeper shade. Like many others of 

 the genus, the organs of the flower assume a singular and grotesque 

 resemblance to the face of some animal. On lifting up the fleshy 

 petal-like middle lobe which protects the stamens and pistil, the face 

 of an Indian hound may be imagined ; the stamens, which are two 

 in number, situated one on either side of the sterile depressed 

 central lobe, when the flower is mature, turn of a deep brown, and 

 resemble two round eyes ; the blunt stigma takes the form of the 

 nose, while the sepals look like ears. There is something positively 

 comical in the appearance of the ape-like face of C. spectahile, the 

 beautiful showy Lady's Slipper, the description of which will be found 

 to tace the plate in which it forms a prominent feature. 



The most beautiful of all the species is the *' Stemless Lady's 

 Slipper," Cypripedimn acaule, of which we will treat at some future 

 time. It bears removal to the garden if i)lanted in a suitable 

 situation ; but ad these native flowers require attention to their 

 peculiar habits and soil, or they will disappoint the expectation of 

 the cultivator and end in ftiilure. All wild flowers transplanted from 

 the woods recjuire shade, and bog plants both moisture and shade. 



