The Colorado statesman., 1911-04-15

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and beautiful, are shaped like ths
head of a lance or pike-referring no
doubt to the weapon that pierced the
sides of the Savior-while they are
marked beneath with round spots,
signifying the 30 pieces Of silver for
which Judas sold him..
Today this wonderful blossom Is
comparatively familiar and is known
as the passion flower. Botanists call
it Passiflora incarmata. While Its
peculiarities OF structure are undeni-
ably interesting, there is nothing
about It that to the sane eye suggests
5 the miraculous.
Holy Ghost Orchid.
The same observation does not ap-
ply, however to another plant, far
more remarkable, which Is even at
the present day SO great a rarity that
probably there are not dozen speci-
mems OF it in all the United States
Two Of these are in the presidents
greenhouse at Washington. 1t will
not survive unless kept in an ex-
moisture-a fact from which 1t may
be correctly inferred that this inter
esting vegetable species is a native
Of the torrid zone. Indeed, 1t grows
nowhere except close to the equator,
in wet and marshy places not far
from sea level, where the humid air
oppresses the traveller like SO much
almost unbreathable steam.
Such is the natural habitat of the
Holy Ghost orchid, as the plant is
called. 1t is q true orchid. and. like
many others of its botanical kind.
grows in earth. Its flowers are de-
veloped in little groups of two or
three on a vigorous green stem. and
in each of them, when 1t IL fully open,
appears, sitting within the calyx OF
the snowy blossom; little dove with
half-spread wings. So perfectly is it
formed that even the feshy excres-
cence at the top of the beak, charac-
teristic of pigeons, Is represented. 1t
is, in fact, the most curious and won
derful Of natures limitations.
"LlIies Of the Field"
It is wholly uncertain what flower
Jesus had in mind when he spoke OF
the "lilies of the field" which
though they toiled not. neither did
they spin-were adorned more beau
tifully than Solomon in all his glory.
Certainly he was not speaking Of any
blossoms Of the type now represented
by what is called the Easter lily, be-
cause no such lilies were known In
the Palestine of his day, all Of them
being of exclusively eastern Asiatic
origin. OF these lilies. there are many
varieties, as everybody knows. the
finest of them all. and the one gener-
ally grown at the present time in the
greenhouses of this country, being a
native Of Japan-the Lilium Harrisii.
A similar lily, though Of different
variety, is the Lilium candidum. or
Madonna lily, which is SO called be-
cause It is the flower that is supposed
to have been presented to the virgin
by the angel of the annunciation.
| One finds 1t thus depicted in one of
the most famous paintings Of Murillo
But. as above suggested, this lovely
| type of blossom was not known In
Palestine 1900 years ago-a fact, how
| ever, which does by no means pre-
cIude the possibility that an angel
might have obtained bunch.
Resurrection Plant.
One of the most interesting Of the
vegetable species associated with Eas-
ter is the so-called resurrection plant,
which is a kind of "tumble-weed," ma
| tive to the region of the Dead sea.
Some of it's relatives, botanically
speaking, are found in our own coun-
| try and have similar habits. This
tumble-weed during part of the year
dries up and, detaching itself from
the ground, assumes the form of a
/ ball, seemingly dead-in which shape
it rolls before the wind, scattering its
seeds as 1t goes, to take root and
grow into more tumble-weeds.
OF all the many ingenious methods
adopted by nature to accomplish the
distribution of plants none is more
odd than this. But when the tumble
weed, apparently defunct, is put into
water, 10! 1t begins to sprout. and
presently is as much alive as ever.
Whence the popular name bestowed