CORALLORHIZA 135 



stones; but when found and washed it is a most interesting 

 object, especially when one realises that in its knobby 

 warts there is some chemical power different from that of all 

 other plants, except such as the Indian Pipe and Broom- 

 rape, chemical differences that send wise men to their 

 laboratories to experiment, and philosophers to their studies 

 to wonder why in all this world whose natural laws are so 

 wonderful, a little group of plants should live so unnaturally 

 and yet have adapted themselves so comfortably to their 

 limitations. 



But on the other hand, if the orchids were able to discuss 

 values, they might possibly place the Corallorhiza higher in 

 the social scale, as the Hindoos would reverence a priest with 

 his begging bowl, where we would see only the exponent of a 

 parasitic system. For the ojchids that grace the green- 

 houses, those snared like flaming birds from the tops of 

 tropical trees, have all some mysterious power of drawing 

 their nourishment from the air and moisture through the 

 apparent medium of a little bark, or moss; so it may be the 

 creed of these spirit flowers that they should be served 

 rather than serve themselves, and that to delve in mud for 

 their food is unworthy of their kind, and our thrifty Habe- 

 narias and Cypripediums that thrust ordinary roots in moist 

 black soil may be thought as much unclassed as a Buddhist 

 who should drive a trade for money. 



Therefore it may be that the Corallorhizas who do not 

 work for their own living are after all more closely con- 

 nected with the gorgeous orchids that do not come into con- 



