256 NOTES ON BRITISH ORCHIDS. [Aug. 



Genus 7. — Liparis. — Approaching very closely to Malaxis in general habit. 

 Sepals and petals linear, spreading. Two pairs of pollen masses waxy, attached 

 by their summits, glands evanescent. 



One sjjecies, Liparis Lceseli^ is included in the genus. 



L. Lceseli (two-leaved Liparis). — Bulb greenish, enveloped in soft, pale 

 scales, and sending up in July two equal-sized, bright green, elliptic-lanceolate 

 leaves. Stalk issuing from between the leaves to about double their height, and 

 bearing a raceme of small lemon-coloured or yellow flowers. Sepals and petals 

 spreading, linear. Lip ovate, longer and broader than the petals, and recurved at 

 the point. 



This interesting little plant has only been found in a few stations 

 in England, such as spongy bogs in Cambridgeshire, and two or three 

 of the adjoining counties. The tlower stem, which is small and 

 rather brittle, rarely exceeds six inches in height, with from five to 

 eight yellowish-green flowers in a somewhat straggling raceme. In 

 a young state, the flower-stem always appears as if cut or broken 

 over, but gradually it increases in length until the flowers are 

 perfectly developed. The leaves are bright green and smooth, 

 almost erect, from two to three inches in length, by about half that 

 in width, and varying in shape from narrow oblong to broadly 

 lanceolate. Each leaf is furnished with a shorter and smaller outer 

 sheath, or bract, which is usually lighter in colour and more fleshy. 

 Altliough this plant, as stated in dealing with Malaxis, has a ten- 

 dency to be epiphytal, still I have grown it very successfully for a 

 number of years, in a mixture of leaf mould and brick dust ; and 

 although the original bulbs have never increased in number, yet 

 each season they are stronger than the preceding, and throw up finer 

 spikes of flowers — in fact, they seem perfectly established in their 

 new abode. The bulbs have a peculiar propensity for rising out of 

 the ground almost to their full length, but this I have always 

 corrected by an application of fine sandy peat or leaf mould. 



Genus 8. — Corallorhiza. — Brown or yellowish saprophytes. Sepals and petals 

 nearly alike. Lip deflexed with two small lobes. Column short, with the anther 

 terminal, and four globular, granular pollen masses attached horizontally. 



There is but one si^ecies, C. innata. 



C. innata (spurless Goralroot). — Boots numerous, branched, fleshy, and nearly 

 white. They are also very short and densely interwoven. The whole plant 

 seldom exceeds eight or nine inches in length, is leafless, but with the stem 

 bearing a few tubular sheathing scales instead. 



Flowers sub-racemose, drooping, of a pale-yellowish colour. Sepals ovate 

 lanceolate, dark-green, lateral slightly deflexed. Lip oblong, white, and marked 

 with small reddish or purple lines and spots. 



Unless in a few Scotch counties, this plant is not known else- 

 where in Britain. On the continent it is widely distributed, and is 

 also recorded from Eussia, Asia, and North America. It is an 

 occupant of boggy or sandy v/oods, usually birch or fir, and has also 

 been found, though in very limited quantity, in sandy seaside 



