Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1886-10-14
THE HOLY GHOST BLOSSOM,
A White Dove Comes Out as a
Flower in Brooklyn.
From the Eeao York World.

FIOW6F In EfOOklyus
From the Neao York World.
Some Of the queer forms that orchids
take when they finally make up their OBJ
stinate minds to bloom would do credit to
a contortionist. There are thousands of
varieties and every kind seems to have an
especial will of its own. And it delights
to show it, too. or course there good
orchids and bad orchids, just as there are
| good and bad Aldermen, but the best OF
| to twist their petals into queer shapes and
intricate convolutions. Others grow SIM
ply and unostentatiously, as the Noun
| tain Maid in ''Adonis -
OF all the odd forms this flower loves to
take the Holy Ghost blossom Is the most
singular and most devout. The botanists
call 1t the PeristertG .Eldtd. Common
people call it the Holy Ghost plant, be-
cause the full flower represents a creamy
white dove nesting in cup-shaped
corolla.
There is one of these In bloom now in
Brooklyn, at No. 4S2 franklin avenue.
Mr.. David NJ. Stone, editor of the journal
of Commerce, lives there, with welt kept
grounds all about the house. Ten years
ago George P. Buckley, Mr.. stones head
gardener, got the plant from England,
and in 1880 cOaXed a blossom out OF it.
Three years later the dove consented to
reveal itself again, and now for the third
time he has plant bearing five OF these
flowers and fourteen buds.
While the artist sketched il a young
woman came in and examined the waXy
petals with all flower lovers interest.
1t recalled these lines of Horace Smith,
said she:
Your volceless lips. flowers, are living
preachers,
Each cup pulpit and each leaf book,
Supplying to my fancy numerous teacherJ
From lOveliest nook.
The full grown flower is about two
inches in diameter and is cup-shaped. At
the bottom OF this cup, nesting in the
shadow of the curled leaves, is a beauti-
full white dove. The wings are extended
towards the outer edge of the leaves and
have calyx of small brown spots eX-
tending over nearly half their surface.
A slightly curved bill and two small horns
which answer for the eyes are yellow.
The tail of the dove is tanshaped and has
an edging of brown. Looking closely at
the life-like waXen bird through magni-
flying glass it seems to be lying in the cup
shaped nest asleep on its back.
The body and head are beautifully mod
elled. The joining of the upper part 20
the bell Of the flower is apparently a
small liganent along the back of the
dove, while the wings and tail are not in
such distinct relief. The head is entirely
separated from the flower proper. The
wings are not perfect in shape. They are
too round at the end and have lump on
the outer edge which sometimes spoils
their symmetry. Attached TO the tail by an
invisible, but active hinge is curled
leaf. which falls downward over the outer
leaves Of the cup. When The flower first
opens, this leaf or shroud covers the dove
almost entirely. When the bloom is COM
plete it falls down, and although the hinge
admits of a partial return TO the old posi-
ton, the leaf cannot be made to hide the
dove from sight. Beecher has said that
flowers are the sweetest things that God
ever made and forgot TO put soul into,
and the young lady who admired the
orchid agreed with the Brooklyn preacher.
The plant will bloom for two or three
Waaka