HARPER'S GUIDE TO WILD FLOWERS 



Calypso 



Calypso bulbosa. — Family, Orchis. Colors, pink, yellow, and 

 purple. Sepals and 2 of the petals, nearly alike, long and narrow, 

 erect, open, of a crimson shade, striped with purple. Lip, swollen, 

 whitish, spotted with brownish purple, further marked inside by 

 3 rows of yellow, stiff hairs. Column, broad, petal-like, the lid- 

 like anther drooping from its summit. Flower, single, terminat- 

 ing a low scape, 3 to 6 inches high, arising from a bulbous corm. 

 A single leaf springs near the base of the scape, from the corm, 

 rather long - petioled, roundish or ovate, thin, many - nerved, 

 pointed, with wavy margins, 1 to ih inches long. About 3 loose 

 scales upon the scape. May to July. 



Deep, moist woods, Maine to Michigan and California, and 

 in the Rocky Mountains. This pretty, bright-colored orchis is 

 solitary and drooping. The bulbous root lies snugly in a bed 

 of moss. Whoever finds this small nymph does not need 

 to be told that he has a treasure. (See Pink Flowers, 

 P- 251.) 



Putty-root. Adam-and-Eve 



Aplectrum hyemale. — Family, Orchis. Colors, greenish, yellow- 

 ish brown, white, and crimson. Sepals, narrow, greenish yellow, 

 with a purple tinge. Petals, yellowish, purplish above, like the 

 sepals in form, arching over the column. Lip, white, with magenta 

 spots, open, spreading, shorter than the petals. Leaf, 1, petioled, 

 but not sheathing at the base, springing from the bulbous root 

 at the side of the scape, large, oval, pointed, 4 to 6 inches long. 

 Flowers, about 10, in loose racemes, each upon a separate pedicel 

 and with a narrow bract underneath. May and June. 



The singular, united corms of this plant give it its marital 

 name, 2, sometimes 3 or 4, being joined by offshoots. One 

 new bulb is formed every year, but retains life for 2 or 3 

 years. The latest corm sends up, late in summer, a broad- 

 plaited, many-nerved leaf, which usually lasts over the win- 

 ter. The next season the flowers come up. Rich, moist 

 woods, extending over the country from New England to 

 California southward to Missouri. 



Wild Columbine 



Aquilegia canadensis. — Family, Crowfoot. Colors, red and yel- 

 low. (See Pink Flowers, p. 258.) Sepals, 5, ovate, colored like 

 the petals. Petals, 5, red lined with yellow; in shape they are 

 long, hollow spurs, ending in a little knob below, tipped with a 



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