Plate 447. 

 ORCHIS LATIFOLIA, VAR. LAGOTIS. 



The cultivation of terrestrial orchids, especially those belonging 

 to the European Continent, has latterly attracted a good deal of 

 attention, and both Mr. Backhouse of York, and Mr. Buckley 

 of Messrs. Eollisons and Co., Tooting, have been very successful 

 in gathering together a number of species and varieties. Their 

 culture used at one time to be considered very difficult, but 

 it is no longer so : and although requiring an amount of 

 care which all orchideous plants more or less require, yet if 

 the main point, attention to drainage, is regarded, they can be 

 cultivated as readily as most herbaceous plants. 



For this fine variety we are indebted to Messrs. Backhouse 

 and Son, who have imported it from Mont Cenis, and in 

 forwarding it to us they have accompanied it with the follow- 

 ing remarks : " This orchis is quite new, though the species 

 is well known and common in England. It is the Orchis 

 latifolia, var. lagotis, of Reichenbach (in the opinion of Professor 

 Oliver of Kew). Instead of having the plain green leaf and 

 rosy or flesh-coloured flowers of the British Orchis latifolia 

 and its variety incarnata, it has brilliant purple flowers and the 

 most beautifully spotted leaves that I ever remember to have 

 seen in any orchis. Even the very bracts, which are long 

 and protruding, are blotched or spotted with deep purple. It 

 is certainly a beautiful acquisition, and the variety has never 

 been seen before in this country, I make no doubt." 



Orchis latifolia succeeds best in moist peat and grit, and 



