6l2 



BOTANY OF THE LIVING PLANT 



upright axis bearing sheathing leaves, and a distal spike of flowers. This 

 springs from the apex of a palmate storage-tuber of the previous year, now 

 shrivelled ; while a second similar tuber, young and plump, is developing as 

 storage for the next season (Fig. 459). The new tuber bursts through 

 from the axil of one of the lowest leaves, and bears a terminal bud seated on 

 swollen mycorhizic roots directed obliquely downwards. Normal roots also 

 arise from the base of the shaft. By a succession of such tubers the plants 

 perennate from year to year. 



Each flower of the spike is sessile in the axil of a large leafy bract, and 

 is of an epigynousLiliifloraltype, but specialised so as to be an accurate 



Fig. 460. 

 Flower of Orchis maculata, L. I. Whole flower in frontal view. II. Lateral 

 aspect, perianth partly removed. III. Young fruit. IV. Floral diagram. V. VI. 

 Pollinia in erect and curved positions. 1-6 = perianth-segments ; (1) is really the 

 anterior, but by resupination the posterior segment ; 6 is the labellum, actually 

 posterior, but by resupination the anterior segment. £? = bract ; s/>=spur ; ov= 

 ovary; s=stigma ; r = rostellum. 



mechanism for pollination (Fig. 460, 1.). The inferior ovary itself constitutes 

 the stalk of attachment of the sessile flower. It shows ridges, the spiral 

 turns of which indicate that the flower has been inverted by a half-circle- 

 twist of the ovary (resupinate) (11. in.). The posterior side is thus turned to 

 the front facing the bract. This is essential for the success of the strongly 

 zygomorphic flower as a pollinating mechanism. 



The ground-plan of the flower is shown in Fig. 460, iv. ; it consists of : 

 Perianth, segments 3 + 3, polyphyllous, superior. The three outer segments 

 are small, and of about equal size, the odd one being anterior (1). The three 

 inner are very unequal. The posterior segment, turned by resupination to 

 the fronf, forms a large platform, or labellum (6), and it is dilated downwards 

 into a long spur (sp). The two smaller, together with the outer anterior 

 segment, form a hood-like group over the column, which rises just behind 



