The Habenarias are very numerous in the mountains. Some of them, such as the White Bog Orchis (Habenaria dilatata) and Giant Orchis (Habenaria leucostachys) have exquisite large spikes of white sweet-scented flowers and are a perfect prize to the Nature-lover; while others, such as the Long-bracted Orchis (Habenaria bractcata), Small Orchis (Habenaria obtusata), Leafy Orchis (Habenaria hyperborea), Round-leaved Orchis (Habenaria orbiculata) and Green Orchis (Habenaria stricta) are small plants and have greenish, yellowish or purplish blossoms that are almost scentless. These lesser orchids grow in the woods and beside the trails, and are easily recognized, as each species possesses its own marked individual peculiarities.
On wet, sandy flats and by the margin of the alpine streams grow the pale pink clusters of the Fly-spotted Orchis (Orchis rotundifolia), its dainty blossoms splashed with rose color and a single rounded green leaf growing at the base of the plant.
And so we come at last to the most exquisite of all the wild mountain orchids—the Lady's Slipper. To find these wonderful treasures growing in swamp or dell, their curious inflated sacs expanding with tropical luxuriance amid northern alpine surroundings, is a thrilling experience unequalled in the history of flower-hunting; and so completely does the sight of their mysterious beauty enthral the beholder that it is with rapture akin to awe he stoops to gather one of the "Golden slippers meet for fairies' feet" of the Large Yellow Lady's Slipper (Cypripedium pubescens) or the Small Yellow Lady's Slipper (Cypripedium parviflorum). The great moraine at Emerald Lake, gilt with these conspicuous orchids, is a marvellous sight in July, for, curiously enough, the Large Yellow Lady's Slipper grows both on exposed arid flats and in the deepest seclusion of the woods, while the fragrant Small Lady's Slipper has its haunts close beside the streams.
