258 THE JOURTTAL OF BOTANY 



0. PURPURELLA IS fully described in this Journal for July last 

 (p. 164). The plant is more or less dwarf, and, save in exceptional 

 cases, which are few, the leaves are spotted either all over or only at 

 the tip (sometimes the tips of only the upper leaves) with little dots— 

 never rings or blotches. The flowers are deep crimson -purple with 

 very stout spur and more or less diamond-shaped flat hp with a 

 pattern which is fairly heavy, but less regular than that of O. incar- 

 nata. There are several Considerations which convince us that this 

 is a genuine species and not a hybrid : — 



{a) In the first place it appears to be extremely constant in each 

 locality in which it occurs. In the spot best known to -us it grows 

 vigorously and seemingly in increasing numbers, and with less indi- 

 vidual variation than in the case of any other species in the group. 

 Always the plants are short, the leaves with their very small dots, 

 the lips diamond-shaped, and the flowers of rich deep crimson-purple. 



(h) None of these points suggest a hybrid origin. In a hybrid 

 between one form with and one without spotted leaves there is 

 a good deal of variation in every case known to us — some plants have 

 rino-s on the leaves, some blotches, some large and some small spots. 

 The lip also is a combination, in a hybrid, of those of the parents. 

 The clean-cut diamond of O. purpurella is not derived from any 

 possible combination. Its deep brilliant colour, again, points in the 

 same direction, for if it were a hybrid one would expect dilution of 

 colour, whereas in reality it has the richest tint of the whole Marsh 

 Orchis series. A further consideration is this, that wherever O. pur- 

 purella grows it hybridizes with other forms, and these hybrids are 

 more distinct and easy to identify than those of other species. The 

 rich colour of the O. purpurella parent is transferred to the h^^brid a 

 little diluted — in the hybrid O. purpurella X ericeforum, for instance, 

 the colour is at best a magnificent brick-red-purple which could come 

 from nothing but 0. purpurella, and needs to be seen i?i situ, to 

 be realized at all. T\\Qform of the lip in these hybrids is inter- 

 mediate between that of O. purpurella and the other parent, be it 

 O. latifolia, O. ericetorum, or O. Fuchsii. 



(c) The above-mentioned considerations preclude any identifica- 

 tion with O. laiifolia. Our reasons for resisting identification with 

 O. cruenta were given in the paper on this species in the July issue 

 this year. An additional point is mentioned by Col. Godfery in 

 correspondence — viz., that O. cruenta is described in some Conti- 

 nental Floras as very heavily spotted, having spots on hoth sides 

 of the leaves. 



O. LATIFOLIA will be the subject of a short paper later on, where 

 we shall give our reasons for thinking that it really is a species and 

 not a mass of hybrids. It has many forms, some of them approach- 

 ino- other species to some extent, but usually has spotted or blotched 

 leaves, the spots being often ring-shaped. The flow^ers vary from 

 Avhite or pale lilac to dark purple, the lip is broad and flat with 

 slio-htly incurved edges, fairly neatly trilobed, and nearly always with 

 a heavv line pattern. Spur always stouter than in ericetorum, but 

 variable — mav be very stout. Sepals erect, but often less rigid than 

 in 0. incarnata and 0. purpurella. 



