WILD FLOWERS WHITE AND GREENISH 
Maine, Ontario, and Minnesota, south to Florida 
and Tennessee. 
SHOWY LADY’S SLIPPER 
Cypripédium birsitum. Orchid Family. 
This magnificent, fragrant Orchid has been con- 
sidered the most beautiful of the Cypripediums and 
some enthusiasts have even thought that it should be 
crowned the queen of American wild flowers. It is 
a shy, chaste beauty, and keeps aloof, hidden in 
remote swamps and rich, low, mossy woods, where 
its incomparable charm and subtle grace regale the 
woods with their exquisite splendour. The com- 
mon name should not be confused with that of the 
earlier-blooming Showy Orchis, which bears a spike 
of several flowers. The Showy Lady’s Slipper raises 
its stout, leafy, and downy stalk a foot or two high, and 
may be found from June to September. The large, 
downy, wavy-edged, pointed oval leaves are alter- 
nating and clasping, and resemble the foliage of the 
False Hellebore. The large, white, balloon-like floral 
pouch is shaped something like an Indian moccasin, 
and is softly stained on the upper side with pinkish 
purple spots and stripes. The broad, spreading 
sepals and petals are pure white, and are flared with 
such a vigorous, animated gesture that one fancies 
that they are almost trying to speak. Usually one, 
and frequently two or three flowers hang from the 
summit of the stalk. The root is used as a nerve 
tonic, and the fine hairs with which the plant is covered 
213 
