A FLORAL WONDER OF PANAMA.

Press, Volume LIII, Issue 9387, 10 April 1896, Page 6

A FLORAL WONDER OF PANAMA.

The Holy Ghost flower, or FW del Espiiitu Santo, is found in the region of the Isthmus of Panama. It seems to thrive in low, marshy spots, and springs up f ron , decayed logs or from crevices in the rocks. The larger and older bulbs frequently sen. up the leaf stalks six or seven feet in height and from these, which are joined, broac lanceolated leavea are thrown out in pairs The plant is an annual, and iv June, Jnjo and August the flower stalks start up f rotn the base of the bulb, devoting all their energies to the formation of the buds. The buds are arranged on the stalks much like those of the hyacinth, the usual nmnbsr for a well-grown stalk to boar being iVoni twelve to fifteen. The leaves are very pale green in colour, as though in harmony with the delictte purity of the blossom. The blossom is of alabaster whiteness, much like the oldstyle English pulpit. This, of itself, i 3 strikingly curious, but it fades into insig. | nilicance when one looks into the centre of ' that strange blossom, for there, nestling ■in its very heart, is the perfect image jof a dove. It requires no imagination Ito see it. No one could mistake it for anyi thing else, for no human skill could fashion i its shape more perfectly, no artist could j adorn it with more elegant tints, and no ! perfumer could endow it with a more delicate fragrance. Right in the cup of the blossom, with the snow white canopy about it, rests this wondrous image, its delicately moulded wings drooping, half extended at its side, its gold-tinted head bent slightly forward, and its tiny, crimson-tipped bill almost touching its snowy breast. An observer who saw it in its native home says • " Just as the figure of the dove itself is there, beyond dispute, so does an ex- , pression pervade the image, an expression that even the most careless cannot fail to notice, the incarnation of humility and spiritual purity."