Till: JOURNAL OF BOTANY 



Orchis. It is probable that field-botanists pass these Eorms by 

 without strict examination as 0. latifolia or hybrids, the more so as 

 they are usually found in marshy places. Obviously the determina- 

 tion of possible hybrids will be much affected by the failure to deted 

 a possible parent, Plants over 5 dm. high are common enough, 

 usually with large and rather flat leaves, solid stems, and typical 

 0. ericetorum lips, the spur slender, sepals lax, and centre-lobe of the 

 lip very small. Both forms of O. maculata appear to prefer situa- 

 tions neither very moist nor very dry ; hut wo have found large groups 

 of both forms llourishing in wet sphagnum. 



Group J). We think a form of which we have specimens from 

 Winchester and the Isle of Wight deserving of special mention. It 

 was familiar to the lite Mr. Hunnybun, who drew it, and was inclined 

 to regard it as the best type of O. latifolia, owing to the great dis- 

 tinctness of the lip, which did not suggest a hybrid origin. The lip is 

 large and heart-shaped, the centre lobe being scarcely distinguishable. 

 There is a beautifully regular pattern of fine lines, bounded by 

 stronger ones, with a very few dots outside the lines. The spur is 

 very stout, in one example curved a little. The Winchester plant 

 had a few rather large spots on the leaves, the Isle of Wight plant 

 unspotted leaves. These plants might be hybrids of O. preetermissa 

 and O. latifolia, but it is just as likely that the form is a mutation. 

 The Winchester plant is 38 cm. high, stem stout, -with a small cavity, 

 very leafy, the topmost leaf bract-like, the leaves seven in all, 

 four upper ones reaching the basis of the spike, strongly keeled, the 

 longest 1-1 cm. long, the widest 28 mm. wide, with a few spots and 

 blotches here and there, rather grey-green, shining beneath. Bracts 

 broad and long, exceeding the flowers throughout the whole spike. 

 The spike 6 - 5 cm. long, the flowers lilac, sepals erect, spur stout, 

 rather short, the lip almost perfectly heart-shaped, the centre-lobe 

 hardly apparent, and pattern of slight but well-marked lines and a 

 few dots, the whole lip Hat, side-lobes not crenulate. The lip of this 

 type is shown in Journ. Bot. pi. 556, fig. 16. It is of the Isle of Wight 

 plant. 



No doubt O. latifolia is intermediate in many characters between 

 O. preetermissa and purpurella on the one side and O. ma nil til a 

 on the other. A study of the figures in the Plate referred to brings 

 this out quite plainly. It does not necessarily follow that all the forms 

 are hybrids. In many groups of living organisms, species which are 

 never questioned as valid arrange themselves in a regular series of 

 gradations between extreme forms. In spite of arguments to the 

 contrary, the heavy ringed spots of 0. latifolia do not suggest to us 

 dilution, but rather intensification. They are very different from the 

 faint stains that arc often found in manifest hybrids. Nor does the 

 characteristic line-pattern of the lip and its regular cup-like shape 

 suggest a combination of other types, but an independent variation. 

 At any rate, we wish to urge these considerations pending the carry- 

 ing out of experimental crossings, made and tested in accordance with 

 known Mendelian laws. 



By way of summary, we may say tint the view which our 

 present knowledge suggests to us is that 0. latifolia is a tame species, 



