The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1902-02-22
The STATE FLOWER

LIS QuoSIlou OIL WHAT really IS Lue
species of the state flower is becoming
grave one. The legislature at the re-
quest Of the St. Anthony Study Circle of
Minneapolis, is trying to change the flower
designated in the joint resolution of Feb.
4, 1893, which reads:
Be it resolved by the Senate, the House of
Representatives concurring, That the wild
lady-sllpper, or moccasin flower, Cypripe-
dlum calceolus, be and the same is hereby
designated and adopted as the state flower or
floral emblem of the state of Minnesota
The ladies of st. Anthony Study Circle
assert that "calceolus'' does not grow in
Minnesota and that the familiar pink and
white lady slipper was the flower had in
mind by the original petitioners for a
state flower (the state flower committee
of the Woman's Board Of Worlds Fair
Managers) the proper name of which is
I'Cypripediurn reginae.' r..
Two of our contemporaries have run
foul Of this state flower question. The
Tribune has the lady's-slipper growing on
the prairies, where it does not grow; on
the contrary, it has fondness for boys and
wooded places. The Tribune also gets
badly mixed in its Latin. The Times
undertakes to rebuke the Tribune, but is
also entangled by the wiles of an. I'M
, covers that the state manual asserts that
"Cypripedium arietinum'' is the state
| flower. This it Indirectly does. Under
a cut of the flower it contents itself with
the designation 'Cypripedium-the Moe
casin Flower, State Flower Of Minnesota. y
in the article devoted to the state flower,
which is equally mono ommittal as to the
precise designation Of the state flower, it
says that the Flower shown in the &C.
companying plate" is "Cypripedium
arietinum." But the law indisputably
reads "Gypripedium calceolus," and the
law is above the blue books impli-
cation. 1t is equally indisputable
that 'Cypripedium reginae' is the flower
most people take to be the state
hower-the pink and white lady s-slipper.
Naturally the good ladies of the st. An
thony Study Circle, which is responsible
for these editorial errors, in that it pre-
cipitated the subject, are somewhat
stirred up. One of the members writes
The Journal as follows:
To the Editor of The Journal: ...
In response to the, editorial of the Tribune,
which has evidently been actuated by the de-
sire Of its writer to be witty at the expense
of those who would be studious." l would
most humbly put in a plea for the ladies of
the Study Circle mentioned. and also for the
most Intelligent of our citizens who not only
desire that Minnesota shall rank foremost
commercially, but shall evidence, at least in
her public records. O. fair degree of classical
scholarship. Such scholarship belongs not
to our brilliant wit who cannot even quote
correctly printed Latin word. as shown in
the use of the word colcecaius for calceolus.
The main object of the correction was in
tended however, to call attention not much
to the scientific name as to the particular va
rety of moccasin flower originally intended.
That such correction was needed Is proven
by the Tribune's Doetical allusion to its
golden effulgence Of beauty" a phrase hard
ly applicable to the pink and white lady IS
slipper, which is the state flower.
1t were wise for our brilliant editor to
fan,iliarize himself with the text of a legisla-
tive enactment before criticizing it or making
desperate effort to be humorous.
There is no question that the St. An
thony Study Circle is eternally right on
this question and is in position to
overwhelm its newspaper critics with con-
! fusion. Now that the legislature has had
| its way made clear on this flower ques-
ton and now that the errors of Latin
names have been corrected, let us have
immediate action. Being a distinctly
curative measure. it is certainly within
the scope of the present session.