160 STARLIGHT AND SUNSHINE. 
boutonniére —a green hood-like, tubular affair, somewhat suggest- 
ing a Jack-in-the-pulpit or skunk-cabbage flower, about six inch- 
es long, with a tapering green spadix projecting fully five inches 
above the summit of the pointed hood, making in all a floral dis- 
play of nearly a foot in length. He looked like a naturalized 
brave from the tropics, and, indeed, favors 
cA} 
ee 2 certain of his Brazilian kindred. 
5 ee Of course my botanical brethren will at 
ad om aN once recognize the eccentric blossom, the 
ee ws Dragon Arum (Arum dracontium), though 
I imagine that few of them have ever 
chanced upon a finer individual than this, 
my first, though not my last specimen, for 
I subsequently discovered more. 
go» One of our most common orchids, 
), though hardest to find because of its 
obscurity, is the O /acera, or ragged 
orchis, its inconspicuous petals being cut 
into a coarse fringe. Various specimens 
met me on all sides among the ferns. For 
years I had vainly sought for the rare po- 
gonia (Pogonza vertiillata) in my walks— 
not for its beauty, but for its very retiring 
qualities; for one does not like to feel that 
perhaps he has every day slighted a friend 
whose only fault is her modesty. It is no 
greater compliment to the cardinal - flower 
in that it is hailed from afar. Remember- 
ing that a certain guardian of the secrets 
of these woods had whispered to me that 
the pogonia was to be found here, near a 
certain turn in an old wood road, I sought 
the spot; and there, in an isolated nook among a thick growth 
of medeola, or Indian-cucumber, ginseng, Solomon’s-seal, wood 
betony, pale Indian-pipes, and other wood growths, I came upon 
the object of my search growing in profusion, treading them 
