66 FAMILIAR FLOWERS OP FIELD AND GARDEN. 



Fringed Orchis. 



plant, and consequently at- 

 tracted, the attention and ad- 

 miration of the eccentric 

 Henry D. Thoreau, who 

 speaks of it as a beauty 

 " who has never strayed be- 

 yond the convent bell." 

 His remark, it seems to me, 

 applies rather to Arethusa, 

 who is certainly much more 

 of a recluse ; but in A 

 Week on the Concord and 

 Merrimac Rivers he says, 

 " ISTature seemed to have 

 adorned herself for our de- 

 parture with a profusion of 

 fringes and curls, mingled 

 with the bright tints of 

 flowers." Now, this orchis 

 is the very perfection of 

 Nature's fringing in bright 

 flower tints, and in my 

 mind Thoreau's words some- 

 how connect themselves 

 with this lovely flower. It 

 blooms in wet meadows in 

 early summer. There are 



