the aesthetic little bees for which its adornment and mechanism are so
marvellously adapted. Doubtless the heavy, oily odor is an additional
attraction to them.

These common orchids, which are not at all difficult to naturalize in a
well-drained, shady spot in the garden, should be lifted with a good
ball of earth and plenty of leaf-mould immediately after flowering.

The similar Small Yellow Lady's Slipper _(C. parviflorum)_, a delicately
fragrant orchid about half the size of its big sister, has a brighter
yellow pouch, and occasionally its sepals and petals are purplish. As
they usually grow in the same localities, and have the same blooming
season, opportunities for comparison are not lacking. This fairer,
sweeter, little orchid roams westward as far as the State of Washington.


Moccasin Flower; Pink, Venus', or Stemless Lady's Slipper

_Cypripedium acaule_

_Flowers_--Fragrant, solitary, large, showy, drooping from end of scape,
6 to 12 in. high. Sepals lance-shaped, spreading, greenish purple, 2 in.
long or less; petals narrower and longer than sepals. Lip an inflated
sac, often more than 2 in. long, slit down the middle, and folded
inwardly above, pale magenta, veined with darker pink; upper part of
interior crested with long white hairs. Stamens united with style into
unsymmetrical declined column, bearing an anther on either side, and a
dilated triangular petal-like sterile stamen above, arching over the
broad concave stigma. _Leaves:_ 2, from the base; elliptic, thick, 6 to
8 in. long.