370 NOTES ON BRITISH ORCHIDS. [Oct. 



this pretty plant easy of cultivation although somewhat fickle as 

 regards soil and situation. The flowers are produced in May and 

 June. 



C. rubra (Red Cephalanthera). — Eoot composed of numerous fleshy, creeping 

 fibres. Stem about a foot in height with a few sheathing scales at tlie base, 

 and higher up several lanceolate, ribbed leaves. Upper portion of the stem 

 including the ovaries minutely yet distinctly downy or pubescent. Flowers 

 very handsome, erect, sessile, of a uniform rose or pink colour except the lip, 

 which is white edged with red, terminal lobe ovate-la,nceo]ate. Sepals and 

 petals acuminate. Bracts exceeding the ovaries. 



This rare plant is, except as regards colour of flowers, almost a 

 counterpart of G. ensifolia. 



Except in a few stations in Yorkshire, Gloucestershire, and 

 Somerset this plant is rarely seen in Britain. In southern and 

 eastern Europe it is not uncommon, seeming to have a wide geo- 

 graphical range, although never found in quantity. It is a native of 

 mountainous, stony woods and copses, usually on limestone, where 

 amongst detached rock debris, and occasionally with only a scant 

 supply of soil, it seems to imitate in manner of growth its near 

 relative of our denuded limestone rocks — Bpipactis ovalis. 



The flowers, which are produced during June and July, are very 

 ornamental, although usually few in number and loosely placed on 

 the stem. 



Genus 16. — Cijpripeclium. — Eootstock fibrous, creeping. Stem leafy. Flowers 

 one or two, with a large inflated lip. Column bearing a dilated, terminal 

 lobe, below which are two short anthers, one on either side. PoUen viscid. 



C. Calceolus (Ijady's Slipper). — Eootstock fibrous, creeping horizontally. Stem 

 leafy, a foot or more in height, the leaves oblong, acuminate, and ribbed. The 

 flower, for there is rarely two, terminal, large, and conspicuous, having the 

 sepals and petals of a brownish purple, and the lip which is large and inflated 

 of a clear yellow colour or tinged with purplish spots. The upper sepals are 

 broadly lanceolate, ribbed, \\ inches in length, the two lowermost combined. 

 Petals rather longer and narrower than the sepals, and slightly wavy. 



This, the only species of the genus indigenous to Britain, is now 

 becoming very rare, if not indeed quite extinct, in the few Durham 

 and Yorkshire stations from which it has been recorded. On the 

 continent it is, however, widely distributed, and in some places 

 occurs in great abundance ; but the hundreds of plants ruthlessly torn 

 up each season and sent into our English markets, must in the long 

 run materially lessen the number even in places where the plant is 

 at present found in almost unlimited quantity. The peculiar struc- 

 ture and elegance of this orchid renders it a very desirable 

 acquisition for the rock garden or flower border. 



Nearly 300 years ago (in 1597), this plant was cultivated and 

 figured by Gerard, the illustration being remarkably accurate and 

 minute in detail. 



