NATIVE WILD FLOWERS 
foliage much lighter, and the juice of the plant more 
watery. 
Professor Lindley has given the Balsam a place among 
the garden Nasturtiums. A very natural affinity seems to 
exist between the Nasturtiums and Balsams as respects 
habits, form and color. Dr. Gray gives the Balsams an 
order to themselves. 
RATTLESNAKE PLANTAIN—Goodyera pubescens (R. Br.)-. 
This is a formidable name for a lovely little plant the 
leaves of which are prettily netted over the dark green sur- 
face with milky-white veinings. The ovate pointed leaves 
are set close to the ground; from the centre of the leaves. 
rises a naked stalk of pearly white flowers in a slender 
spike; corolla ringent with inflated lip; root-stock some- 
what creeping, soft and fibrous; the flowers are slightly 
fragrant. This pretty little plant is found in the forest, 
often on decayed fallen trunks of trees or in light fibrous. 
mould. It is very nearly allied to the 
SLENDER LADY’S-TRESSES—Spiranthes gracilis (Big.). 
The flower-stem of this singular plant is twisted so that 
the blossoms are turned to one side, forming a spiral of 
great beauty. The flowers are smaller but sweeter than those 
of the Rattlesnake Plantain; greenish-white, lipped and. 
fringed. The two leaves are closely pressed to the ground 
and are little seen after the plant is in bloom. There are’ 
several species of these graceful Orchids. 
The spiral arrangement of the flowers probably suggested 
the ringlets on some fair lady’s head. The old florists 
and herbalists of former times were more gallant than our 
modern botanists, for they gave many pretty names to the 
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