THE BEECH 161 



the elaborated sap, which has been made over in 

 the leaf mills and returned to feed the growth 

 of the roots. Here, too, one may often see the 

 familiar Indian pipe or ghost flower. It is the 

 turkey buzzard of the vegetable world, getting 

 its living from dead and decaying vegetable 

 matter, and has a valuable purpose to fulfil. 

 It is an own cousin to the queenly rhododendron 

 and the lovely azalea. But no one but a bot- 

 anist would ever suspect it! The whole plant 

 — stalks, six-parted flowers, and the little scale 

 "leaf apologies" — look as though fashioned of 

 white wax. The fairies love the beechwoods 

 g,nd are said to hold revel in it on Midsummer 

 night. We frequently find their footstools scat- 

 tered about — the toadstools. These are really 

 humus plants, like the Indian pipes, and get 

 their living in the same manner. 



