GYNANDRIA— MONANDRIA. Orchis. 19 



V. 8. t. 505. Dicks. H. Sicc.fasc. 1. 15. Ehrh. Phytoph. 96. Fl. 

 Dan. t. 115. Gunn. Now. v. 2. 34. 

 Habenaria albida. Br. in Ait. H. Kew. ed. 2. v. 3. 195. Hook. Loud. 

 t.l07. Scot. 252. 



(3. Orchis palmata, thyrso specioso, longo, dense stipato, ex vi- 

 ridi albente. Dill, in Raii Syn. 382. 



In grassy mountain pastures. 



On Snovvdon, by the road from Llanberris to Caernarvon. Ray. 



On hills not far from the house, at Hafod, Cardiganshire. Mr. 



Todd. In dry hilly pastures of Argylshire, and in several of 



the Hebrides, Light foot. Plentiful in the mountainous parts of 



Yorkshire. Hooker. 



/3, In moist meadows, not only in Wales, but also about Malham, 

 Yorkshire, Dr. Richardson. 



Perennial. June. 



Root of several, clustered, tapering, almost cylindrical, undivided 

 knobs, with a few slender thread-shaped radicles, from above 

 their common origin, Mr. Sowerby thought these k7iobs were 

 perfected, and produced a flowering plant, in successive pairs ; 

 but Dr, Wahlenberg, whose opinion is adopted by Dr, Hooker, 

 judged them to consist of two sets, each set being destined suc- 

 cessively to bear a plant, like the knobs, whether globose or pal- 

 mate, of other Orchises. These writers reckon about five knobs, 

 which they term radicles in each cluster. The real radic/es how- 

 ever, the essential part of a root, see Introd. to Botany, chap. 1 2, 

 are very distinct, as pointed out by Mr. Sowerby, and are about 

 four, thread-shaped, more slender than the knobs, which last ap- 

 pear to me to be usually, if not invariably, three in each cluster 

 or set, formed one season, flowering the next, and withering 

 afterwards entirely away, I have transplanted various roots of 

 this species, but could never succeed in their cultivation. Stem 

 seldom more than a foot high, leafy, hollow. Leaves light green, 

 lanceolate, rather glaucous beneath ; the lower ones broadest, 

 and rounded at the end. Spike cylindrical, dense, of many small 

 Jiowers, in which I have but seldom perceived any fragrance, 

 though Gunner and Ray describe them as sweet-scented. Brac- 

 teas ovate-lanceolate, bluntish, about the length of the germen. 

 Calyx-leaves and petals ovate, concave, moderately converging, 

 cream-coloured, all more alike in form, size and hue than in 

 most of our British Orchidece. Lip greener, about the same 

 length, in 3 deep pointed lobes, the middle one largest, and 

 sometimes bluntish. Spier incurved, short and thick. Pollen- 

 masses cloven, their globules larger and more distinct than in 

 undisputed species of Orchis. They appear, by Dr. Hooker's 

 excellent plate, each to proceed from a hood or scale ; but are 

 understood by Mr. Brown to be naked, as they ought to be in 

 his genus Habenaria. 



c 2 



