33 



HYBRIDS OF OKCHIS PURPURELLA. 



Br T. AND T. A. Stephenson. 



(Plates 561, 562.) 



In this Journal for 1920, where O. purpurella was first described, 

 we referred (pp. 169-70) to two hybrid forms of that species which 

 we had noted. Since that time we have found two other crosses, and 

 it appears to us desirable briefly to describe and then to name them, 

 especially because, in the case of three of the forms so many individuals 

 occur as to make it awkward to have no name for them when one 

 meets them in the held. In the same volume (t. ^^^. figs. 11, 12) 

 and in 1921 (t. 559. figs. 21, 22, and in the Orchid Review, Nov. 

 1921) illustrations of some of them are given. In the last reference 

 there is a brief description of the forms concerned. 



1. X Oechis insignis (O. ^purpurella x O. latifolia (L.). 

 (A) At Aberystwyth O. jmrpiorella form A appears to cross with 

 a small form of O. latifolia. In t. 5dQ, above referred to, figs. 9 

 and 13 give the parents and fig. 11 the cross. It is, however, im- 

 possible to reproduce the full colour-values, and O. furpurella 

 should be somewhat darker and brighter. The hybrid has about half 

 the colour-saturation of this parent, and is otherwise intermediate. 

 Most plants are tall, a fair number taller than either parent, but 

 some are dwarf. Most have leaves with large blotches, and some- 

 times rings, but a few have the small dots of 0. purpurella, and 

 some have no spots at all ; but, with all these vegetative variations, 

 the flowers are quite alike. These forms all grow together in the 

 same patch of ground, so that environment can hardly account for 

 the variations. They are most handsome plants, which would be set 

 down as an unusual type of O. latifolia but for the obvious influence 

 of O. purpurella. 



(B) In Arran, form B of O. purpurella also crosses with O. lati- 

 folia, producing plants of almost identical flower-type, both as to 

 shape, colour, and markings, with those at Aberystwyth. These are 

 found in many stations near the shore in fair numbers. The only 

 difference as to foliage-type is that we have noted very few, if any, 

 dwarfs, or leaves other than with large blotcdies, which were mostly 

 dark, though sometimes faint. 



2. X Orchis Formosa {O. purpurellaxO. ericetorum Linton). 

 (A) 0. purpurella form A also crosses with O. ericetorum. The 

 plants are not numerous. They form a rather denser spike, some- 

 times of a rather duller purple tone, but in some cases of a curious 

 brick-red-purple of peculiar brilliance, redder but less deep in tone 

 than the colour of O. purpurella. The lip is usually larger than in 

 the previously described hybrid, and has much more crenulate side- 

 lobes ; the lip-pattern has more spots than lines, which latter, if 

 present, are veiy fine. The spur is much stouter than in O. erice- 

 torum. The leaves are blotched or spotted (t. 556. fig. 12). 



(B) Both near Ambleside and in Arran are found crosses of 

 Journal or Botany.— Vol. 60. [February, 1922.] d 



