4 THE JOURNAL OF BOTANY 



often quite erect, sometimes less so, but never weak and drooping, as 

 in O. maculata. The spur, though variable, is stouter than in 

 O. maculata, and usually, though by no means always, less so than 

 in the others. The bracts are very variable, the stem more or less 

 hollow. The leaves are broadest in the middle, often very broad and 

 luxuriant, heavily keeled or nearly Hat, nearly always spotted, lightly 

 or heavily, or covered with handsome ringed spots. The most 

 typical lip is much broader than long,, with well-rounded side-lobes, 

 which are hardly crenulate, the centre-lobe distinct, very variable in 

 size, not much or at all exceeding the side-lobes, usually with a blunt 

 and often rounded tip. The lip-pattern is usually a well-defined 

 scheme of broken lines and spots, with spots outside the main lines or 

 not. Sometimes the lines are very heavy and unbroken. The lip is 

 slightly incurved, like a shallow saucer. The throat, where the spur 

 opens into the lip, is much broader than in O. maculata. The colour 

 varies considerably, from pale lilac, with darker markings, to very 

 dark purple. Once we saw a fine, semi-transparent white specimen. 



The forms known to us can easily be arranged in four main 

 groups with two sub-groups. 



Group A. Probably the most numerous and widely-distributed 

 form has flowers with more or less pale lilac lips, regular, well-rounded 

 side-lobes, a very small, rounded centre-lobe, the whole lip slightly 

 inc irved, saucer-wise, and the pattern of strongly-marked lines of 

 darker purple, more or less broken, but often unbroken. The whole 

 plant is about 25 to 4 dm. in height. The leaves are generally 

 broad and spotted, blotched or ringed. The spur is of variable 

 thickness, often rather slender, though not so slender as that of 

 0. maculata. 



Sub-group a. In the same locality at Aberystwyth in which the 

 main type of 0. purpurella is found, there is a group of very slender 

 plants, 18 to 24 cm. in height, with flower-spikes 3 to 5-5 cm. long, 

 whose flowers are pale and marked as in group A, and are fully 

 as large, the lip being 10 to 12 mm. wide by 6 to 9 mm. long. The 

 form is noticeable on account of its distinct and very slender habit. 

 At a distance it might pass for a small specimen of O. ericetorum. 

 It is growing in a field where there are many tall plants of O. erice- 

 torum, so that there is nothing in the situation to give rise to 

 the slightness of the form. We have called it the " heath " form of 

 O. latifolia. It is characterized by its stiff neat appearance, waxy 

 flowers, short bracts, and rather narrow leaves. At one time we 

 supposed that this was the same as a plant referred to in the 

 Winchester Reports as "down" hit if alia: at Winchester it grows 

 on the dry downs. Having now seen some complete specimens, by 

 the kindness of Mr. McKechnie, we find that they belong in general 

 habit to the broad-leaved group A, only being somewhat smaller 

 owing to their dry habitat. On the downs at Winchester they grow 

 with O. Fuchsii, which in general habit they there resemble, so much 

 so that Mr. McKechnie suggests that O. latifolia is nothing but a 

 luxuriant marsh form of O. Fuchsii. No such theory would be 

 sufcested by the plant-groups known to us, where O. Fuchsii, 

 in damp situations, is tall and slender, quite unlike 0. latifolia, 



