ORCHID FAMILY 
ORCHIDACEAE 
The Orchids are perhaps the most interesting 
of all the flowering plants. They are perennials 
which are dependent to an extraordinary degree 
upon insects for the carrying of the pollen from 
flower to flower. The structure of the blossom 
is somewhat complicated and it is followed by 
the curious seed pod in which there is an enor- 
mous number of very minute seeds. In nearly all 
the Orchids there is a labellum or lip which 
forms, as a rule, the most conspicuous feature of 
the flower. It is especially striking in the case of 
our common Ladies’-slippers. 
Pink Lapy’s-sLipper. Of all the wild flow- 
ers of June none is more interesting than the 
Pink Lady’s-slipper which over a wide territory 
in the eastern states is frequently abundant. No 
matter how often you see it it never becomes 
commonplace, having to an extraordinary degree 
the peculiar charm of the aristocratic Orchid 
family to which it belongs. It seems rather a 
fitting habitation for elves and fairies than an 
ordinary denizen of the work-a-day world. 
The few other Lady’s-slippers to be found in 
the United States are inhabitants of deep swamps 
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