30 OBSERVATIONS ON HOLL’S LIST. 
L., though it has scarcely any title even to the name, is per- 
fectly incapable of application to any useful purpose, even 
for firing. I have been able to obtain no credible evidence, 
and know no reason whatever to suppose the tree was at any 
time more common than at this day; though it is certainly 
not of such unfrequent occurrence as Mr. Höll had reason to 
believe it. 
* * Orchis longibracteata, Bivon." For this error I must 
be considered in a great measure responsible, not having com- 
pletely satisfied myself of the ditinctness of the Sicilian from 
the Maderan plant, till after the period when Mr. Höll saw 
it in my collection. This is Orchis foliosa of my Primitia. 
The other Orchideous plant alluded to by the name of 
Satyrium diphyllum, Link, is a genuine Habenaria (H. cor- 
data, R. Br. and botanical miscellany, v. 1. t. 55.), and 
is found plentifully in all the shady ravines of the Island, 
particularly on the north side. Though possessing little 
outward beauty, and, therefore, but slender claims to the 
notice of the mere florist or collector, there are few plants 
more interesting than this to the physiological botanist, 
from the presence and large size of two staminodia or abor- 
tive stamens; which are placed, oneon each side, at the 
back of the anther-case. They are whitish, club-shaped, 
and nearly or quite as large as the perfect pollen-masses. An 
outline sketch, taken here from the wild plant a long time ago, 
may be interesting for comparison with the more complete 
illustrations from cultivated specimens already given by you 
in the Bot. Magazine.* 
I have never observed any scent in the flowers of this plant 
in Madera during the day; but, since you say it is most odori- 
ferous at night, it perhaps even here possesses nocturnal frag- 
rance, which I have not had an opportunity of observing. 
spit 
* The true structure of the flowers of this very interesting plant has 
been represented in the Botanical Magazine, t. 3164, since its appearance 
in the Botanical Miscellany.— W. J. H. 
