60 
SHOWY LADY’S SLIPPER. 
Whether we regard these charming flowers for the singularity 
of their form, the exquisite texture of their tissues, or the delicate 
blending of their colours, we must acknowledge them to be altoge¬ 
ther lovely and worthy of our admiration. 
The subject of the figure in our plate is the Pink-flowered 
Moccasin; it is chiefly to be found in damp ground, in tamarack 
swamps, and near forest creeks, where, in groups of several stems, 
it appears, showing its pure blossoms among the rank and coarser 
herbage. The stem rises to the height of from 18’ 2° high.. The 
leaves, which are large, ovate, many nerved and plaited, sheathing at 
the base, clothe the fleshy stem, which terminates in a single sharp- 
pointed bract above the flower. The flowers are terminal, from one 
to three, rarely more ; though in the large purple and white Lady’s 
Slipper, the older and stronger plants will occasionally throw out 
three or four blossoms. This variety is found on the dry plain-lands, 
in grassy thickets, among the oak openings above Rice Lake, and 
eastward on the hills above the River Trent. This is most likely the 
plant described by Gray; the soil alone being different. The 
unfolded buds of this species are most beautiful, having the appear¬ 
ance of slightly flattened globes of delicately-tinted primrose coloured 
rice-paper. 
The large sac-like inflated lip of our Moccasin flower is slightly 
depressed in front, tinged with rosy pink and striped. The pale thin 
petals and sepals, two of each, are whitish at first, but turn brown 
when the flower is more advanced toward maturity. The sepals 
may be distinguished from the petals; the former being longer than 
the latter, and by being united at the back of the flower. The 
column on which the stamens are placed is three-lobed ; the two 
