The weekly Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1911-1922, 1911-04-13

that In the old world, where religion
and superstition SO frequently merge,
this strange vegetable should be re-
garded with awe. The ignorant peas
ants, indeed, are fully persuaded that
the red juice-is really blood, and to
them IL is an additional sign of the
supernatural: that the small pinkish
flowers turn to a dark crimson as the
season advances.
Imagination Yields master brush
and lays on the colors with a skill
most deft for purposes Of illusion.
What most wondrous flower 1t was
that the Spanish priests first discov-
cred in the primeval forests Of South
America, its lovely blooms hanging
Of the trees No wonder that they
called it the flower of the passion and
saw in 1t diyinely exhibited token
that all of the pagan Indians would
be converted to Christianity. For
did not the miraculous blossom con-
tain within itself the whole of the
sacred story Of the Savior's suffer
ings?
The Five Wounds.
Another name they gave 1t was
flower of the five wounds, and said
(as one holy monk wrote in pains
taking script that It had clearly
been designed by the Creator that it
might in due time assist in the con-
version OF the unfortunate heather.
In further explanation of which dis
tinguished commentator, one Jacomo
Bosio. remarked in a valuable work
on America published in the year
1910:
"The filaments above resemble a
blood -colored fringe, as though sug-
gestinx the scourge with which our
blessed Lord was tormented. The col
umn of the fiagellation rises in the
middle. The three nails are above it.
The crown of thorns encircles the col
umn and close in the center Of the
flower from which the column rises
is a portion of yellow color, In
which are five spots or stains OF the
hue of blood, evidently setting forth
the ave wounds received by the Sa-
vior on the cross. The crown itself
Ia surrounded by kind of skein, of a
violet color, the strands of which
number ~, answering to the number
of thorns with which, according to
tradition, our Lords crown was set.
And tho leaves Of the plant. abundant
and beautiful, are shaped like the
head of q 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 80 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 Passifora incarmata. While its
peculiarities of structure are undeni-
ably interesting, there is nothing
about 1t that to the sane eye suggests
the miraculous
Holy Ghost Orchid.
The same observation does not ap
ply, however to another plant, fan
more remarkable, which Is even al
the present day so great a rarity that
| probably there are not dozen speci
mems of 1t in all the United States
Two of these are in the president
greenhouse at Washington. 1t viii
not survive unless kept in an ex
tremely hot atmosphere laden witt
MOISTURE fact from which it may
be correctly inferred that this inter
esting vegetable species is a native
Of the torrid zone. Indeed, it grows
nowhere except close to the equator
in wet and marshy places not fai
from sea level, where the humid ali
Expresses 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 it's botanical kind
grows In earth. It's flowers are de
veloped in little groups of two OF
three on vigorous green stem, and
In each Of them, when II IL fully open
/ appears, sitting within the calyx Of
the snowy blossom, q little dove with
half-spread wings. So perfectly IL il
formed that even the heshy sxcres
cence at the top Of the bsak, charac
teristic of pigeons, il represented. II
", in fact, the most curious and won
derful Of natures limitations.
"LiIIes Of the Field"
1t is wholly uncertain what flower
Jesus had In mind when he spoke Of
the lilies of the field" which
though they teiled not. neither die
they spin-were adorned more beau
tifully than Solomon In all his glory
Certainly he was not speaking Of AM
blossoms Of the type now represented
by what II called the Easter lily, be
cause no such lilies were known II
the Palestine of his day, all Of then
being Of exclusively eastern Asiati,
origin. OF these lilies there are MANI
varieties, az everybody knows, tn,
finest Of them all, and the one gener
ally grown ct the present time in tn.
greenhouses Of this country, being {
native of Japan-the Lilium Harrisii
A similar lily, though Of differen
variety, Is the Lilium candidum, o.
Madonna lily, which Is SO called be
cause 1t is the flower that IL supposed
to have been presented to the virgin
by the angel of the annunciation
One finds it thus depicted in one o
the most famous paintings of Murillo
But, as above suggested, this Lowell,