The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1895-06-07
4 BLOSSOM

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 Espirtu Santo, or Flower
of the Holy Ghost. Have You ever
seen this marvellous blossom?
Some of you may, perhaps, in the
greenhouse or in Il collection or orchids
but it is a rae sight even there and
is seldom seen in all its beauty except
in its native land. 1t was there that
| saw it first on the Isthmus ofPanama.
1t is not It common plant, being
found in certain sections only and IN
insulated clumps. 1t does not like
high, dry soils, but low, marshy spots
sprmging up from decayed logs or
from crevices in the rocks.
To describe this beautiful flower,
after a fashion, Is easy enough, but to
fully realize its peculiar loneliness and
the marvellous accuracy of its shape,
one must see 1t. The larger and older
bulbs frequently send up leaf stalks
| six or seven feet in Night. and from
these which are Joined, broad %lanceo-
lated leaves are thrown out in pair.
The plant is an annual and in June
| July and August the flower stalk
start up from the base of the blub
devotlng all their energies to the for
nation of the buds. The buds are az
range on the stacks much like those
of the hyacinth the usual number for
| a full grown stalk to bear being from
twelve to fifteen. The leaves are very
pale green in color, as though in har-
mony 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 insignificance
| when one looks into the entire Of that
strange blossom, for there, nesting in
the very heat, is the project image of
a dove. 1t requir, S no Imagination to
see it. No one could mistake it for
anything else, for no human skill
could fashion its shape perfect
ly, no artist could adorn it with more
delicate tints, and no pertnmer could
endow it with a more delicate fra
GRANGE.
Right in the cup of the blossom,
with a snow-whlte canopy about it,
rests this wonderous image, its delicate
iy moulded wings dropping, half ex-
tended at its side, its golden-tinted
head bent slightly forward, and its
tiny, crimson bill almost touching It's
snowy breast.
And Just as the figure Of the dove
itself is there, beyond dispute, so does
and expression pervade the image, an
expression that even the most careless
cannot fail to notice the very incar-
nation Of humility and spiritual puri-
ty.
1t is not in the least to be wonder
ed at that the early Spanish Catholics,
brought up IN igorant superstition
and ever on the watch for miraculous
manifestations, should have paused,
awe-struck, before this strange dweller
of the forest and bowed down before
1t, reverently calling 1t the "Flor del
Esplritu Santo,' or flower Of the Hoy
Ghost. No wonder, either that the
still more superstious Indians should
have knelt before it deeming ever the
ground wherein it grew and the air it
prefumed as holy things.
So deeply was this feeling implant-
ed in the hearts of the Indians, and so
carefully was it handed down from
generation to generation, that it has
only been within a comparatively few
years that collectors have been able to
trace the precious bulbs to their
native haunts.-PhHodephia Times.