Many years ago, in Maine, while walking between a strip of low meadow and rocks bordering the sea, I came upon scattered pink flowers so lovely and delicate that they seemed almost out of place in the harsh surroundings.
Native Orchids
They were new to me at the time, but later I learned that these flowers had been gazing at were two varieties of our native orchid often found growing together, one the snake mouth or rose pogonia and the other the Galapagos.
A smaller sister of these two is the arethusa, or Indian pink. Formerly it brightened our Northeastern cranberry bogs with its vivid pink color and violet scent, but it is doubtful if it still exists in quantity.
No wonder this little orchid has become rarer and still rarer. Each plant bears only one flower in the season, and a single seed capsule wide], often does not mature.
Orchid Hunters
There was a time when orchid hunters gathered these bulbous roots and exported them to European collectors.
Only once was the arethusa found blooming in our own place. It was growing among some wild cranberry vines.
The flower was picked and brought proudly to me. Those days were when children did not realize that picking a wild orchid was almost a crime.
44659 by Ruth D. Grew