SHOWY LADYS SLIPPER. 61 



anthers arc placed one on either side, under the two lohes ; the 

 central lobe is sterile, thick, fleshy, and bent down — in our sjjecies 

 it is somewhat blunt and heart-shaped. The stigma is obscurely 

 three-lobed. The root of the Lady's Slipper is a bundle of white 

 fleshy fibres. 



One of the remarkable characteristics of the flowers of this 

 genus, and of many of the natural order to which it belongs, is the 

 singular resemblance of the organs of the blossom to the face of 

 some animal or insect. Thus the face of an Lidian hound may be 

 seen in the Golden-flowered Ci/penpfJum pubescens; that of a sheep or 

 ram, with the horns and ears, in C. arietinum; while our "Snowy 

 Lady's Slipper," (C. spedahik,) displays the curious face and peer- 

 ing black eyes of the ape. 



One of the rarest and, at the same time, the most beautiful of 

 these flowers, is the " Stemless Lady's Slipper,:' (C, acauk,) a 

 figure of which will appear in our second volume. 



It is a matter of wonder and also of regret, that so few persons 

 have taken the trouble to seek out and cultivate the beautiful native 

 plants with which our country abounds, and which would fully reward 

 them for their pains, as ornaments to the garden border, the 

 shrubbery, the rookery, or the green-house. Our orchidaceous 

 plants alone would be regarded by the foreign florist with great 

 interest. 



A time will come when these rare productions of our soil will 

 disappear from among us, and can be found only on those waste and 

 desolate places where the foot of civilized man can hardly penetrate ; 



Q 



