SHOWY LADY’S SLIPPER.
(MOCCASIN FLOWER.)
_Cypripedium spectabile._
But ye have lovely leaves, where we
May see how soon things have
Their end, tho’ n’er so brave;
And after they have bloomed awhile,
Like us, they sink
Into the grave.
HERRICK.
AMONG the many rare and beautiful flowers that adorn our native woods
and wilds, few, if any, can compare with the lovely plants belonging to
the family to which the central flower of our Artist’s group belongs.
Where all are so worthy of notice it was difficult to make a choice;
happily there is no rivalry to contend with in the case of our Artist’s
preferences.
There are two beautiful varieties of the species, the pink and white,
and purple and white Lady’s Slipper (_Cypripedium Spectabile_), better
known by the familiar local name of Moccasin-Flower, a name common in
this country to all the plants of this family.
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 altogether 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 inches to 2 feet 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 appearance 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 anthers are placed one on
either side, under the two lobes; the central lobe is sterile, thick,
fleshy, and bent down—in our species it is somewhat blunt and
heart-shaped. The stigma is obscurely three-lobed. The root of the
Lady’s Slipper is a bundle of white fleshy fibres.
One of the remarkable characteristics of the flowers of this genus, and
of many of the natural order to which it belongs, is the singular
resemblance of the organs of the blossom to the face of some animal or
insect. Thus the face of an Indian hound may be seen in the
Golden-flowered _Cypripedium pubescens_; that of a sheep or ram, with
the horns and ears, in _C. arietinum_; while our “Showy Lady’s
Slipper,” (_C. spectabile_), displays the curious face and
peering black eyes of the ape.
One of the rarest and, at the same time, the most beautiful of these
flowers, is the “STEMLESS LADY’S SLIPPER,” (_C. acaule_), a figure of
which will appear in our second volume.
It is a matter of wonder and also of regret, that so few persons have
taken the trouble to seek out and cultivate the beautiful native plants
with which our country abounds, and which would fully reward them for
their pains, as ornaments to the garden border, the shrubbery, the
rookery, or the green-house. Our orchidaceous plants alone would be
regarded by the foreign florist with great interest.
A time will come when these rare productions of our soil will disappear
from among us, and can be found only on those waste and desolate places
where the foot of civilized man can hardly penetrate; where the flowers
of the wilderness flourish, bloom and decay unseen but by the all-seeing
eye of Him who adorns the lonely places of the earth, filling them with
beauty and fragrance.
For whom are these solitary objects of beauty reserved? Shall we say
with Milton:—
“Thousands of unseen beings walk this earth,
Both while we wake and while we sleep:—
And think though man were none,—
That earth would want spectators—God want praise.”
* * * * *
[Illustration: _PLATE VII._]
1 ROSA BLANDA
(Early wild Rose)
2 PENTSTEMON PUBESCENS
(Pentstemon Beard-Tongue)
* * * * *