THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 
87 
ate flowers should hang below the pistillate, for how then could 
the pollen reach the stigma, till I remembered how some plants 
desire cross pollination. 
Now how wise is this despised nettle ! First, it knows that 
cross fertilizing produces the strongest plants, then to prevent self 
pollination, the flowers containing the pollen are set below the 
ones that require it to form the seeds. But the pollen is not to 
be allowed to waste by falling or being blown away by every 
wandering wind ; it is guarded by the closed calyx till a bee alights 
there, when up fly the four anthers and must literally clasp the 
head of the bee. I do not know what in the sober green pistillate 
flower attracts a visit any more than I know the meaning of the 
stinging hairs on the stems, but doubtless nectar is there and 
manages to make its presence known. 
Orange, Cal. 
SOME ORCHIDS AND FERNS OF CONNECTICUT. 
By Angie I\I. Ryon. 
The farm house in which I spend half of each year stands on a 
somewhat rocky ridge between two wooded swamps. The dif- 
ference in plant life between these two low lying tracts is a matter 
of considerable interest to me, for while they are in many respects 
similar, there is much of individuality in the plant life. This is 
the more striking because the two tracts are quite near together, 
and run in nearly the same direction. 
In Red Brook swamp I find that tiny orchid Microstylis ophio- 
gtossoidcs, adder's mouth—growing in the blackest of mud in 
thickets of the most impenetrable kind, under tangles of wild 
grape vine and poison ivy (Rhus toxicodendron.) So effectually 
is this shy little denizen hidden that I must hunt long through 
these dark tangles ere I find the coveted little green heads ot 
bloom. Such a quaint little thing! A veritable "symphony in 
green." Leaf, stem and flower, all the same deep grass green, 
and often the bulb is quite green. The first time I came upon 
this little oddity after a good hour of steady fighting against bush 
and brier, I was quite amazed to think I had found it at all. It was 
so tiny and so hidden. Growing in its immediate neighborhood 
I find the inconspicuous greenish flowers of Habenaria tridentata. 
