Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1895-04-20
A MARVELLOUS BLOSSOM.
Something About the Strange Flower Of
the Holy Ghost.


Many of the most curious and most
beautiful flowers in the world are
members Of the orchid family, and
among them all the most wonderful
is the famous Espiritu Santo, or
Flower of the Holy Ghost. Have you
ever seen this marvellous blossom?
Some of you may perhaps in a
greenhouse or in q collection of or.
chids, but it Is rare sight even
there, and il seldom seen in all its
beauty except in its native land. II
was there that I saw it first, on the
isthmus of Panama.
1t is not common plant, being
found in certain sections only and in
isolated olumps. 1t does not like
high, dry soils, but low, marshy spots
springing up from decayed logs or
from crevices in the rocks.
To describe this beautiful flower,
after fashion, is easy enough, but
fully to realize its peculiar loveliness
and the marvellous accuracy Of its
shape ono must SEQ it. The larger
and older bulbs frequently send up
leaf stalks six or seven feet in height,
and from these, which are jointed,
broad lanceolated leaves are thrown
out in pairs.
The plant is an annual, and in
June, July and August the flower
stalks start up from tho base of the
bulb, devoting all their energies to
the formation of the buds. The buds
arc arranged on the stalks much like
those of the hyacinth, the usual
number for we'll grown stalk to
bear being from ~ to Is. Tho leaves
are very pale green in color, rs
though in harmony with the delicate
purity Of the blossom.
The blossom is of alabaster white
ness, much like the old style English
pulpit. This of itself is strikingly
curious, but it fades into insig-
nificance when ono looks into tho
center of that strange blossom, for
there, nesting in its very heart. Is
the perfect image Of a dove. 1t re.
quires no imagination to SOC it. No
one could mistake it for anything
else, for no human skill could fash
ion its shape more perfectly, no art.
ist could adorn it with more deli
cate tints, and no perfumer could on
dow it with more delicious fra.
GRANGE. J:
Right in the cup of the blossom,
with the snow white canopy about
it, rests this wondrous image, its
delioately nodded wings dropping,
half extended, ut its side, its gold
tinted head bent slightly forward,
and its tiny crimson tipped bill al
most touching its snowy breast.
And just as tho figure of the dove
Itself is there, beyond dispute, so
does an expression pervade the
Image, an expression that even the
th0st careless cannot fail to notice,
the very incarnation of humility and
spiritual purity.
It Is not in the least to be wonder.
Cd Mt that the early Spanish Catho.
lies should have paused awestruck
before this strange dweller of the
forests and bowed down before it,
teverentially calling it the Flor del
Espiritu Santo," or Flower of the
Holy Ghost. No wonder either that
the still more superstitious Indians
should have knelt before it. deeming
even the ground whereon it grew
and the air it perfumed as holy
things. !.
30 deeply was this feeling implant-
I'd in the hearts of the Indians, and
10 carefully was 1t handed down
from generation to generation, that
it has only been within o compare.
lively few years that collectors have
been able to trace the precious bulbs
10 their native haunts.-Philadel-
phia Times.