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OKCHIS ELODES Grisebach. 

 Br Colonel M. J. Godeery, F.L.S. 



Dn. Stephenson, in his most interesting paper on the forms of 

 Orchis maculata (J. B. 1921, p. 120) rather overstated the case 

 when he said that I insisted that O. ericetorum Linton is not found 

 on the Continent. What 1 intended to convey was that we could 

 not assume that it grows there without positive evidence to that 

 effect. None of the varieties of O. maculata mentioned by French 

 and German authors agree with O. ericetorum, with the possible 

 exception of elodes, but even in this case their descriptions are not 

 sufficient to justify positive identification. 1 felt, therefore, in the 

 absence of Grisebach's original diagnosis, that it was an open question 

 whether ericetorum occurred on the Continent. 



On May 14th of this year, on Mont Mirat, Falaise, Normandy, 

 on high gorse-covered ground, growing amidst typical flowering 

 O. morio, I found in early flower what I took to be ericetorum. 

 Dr. Stephenson, to whom I sent specimens, said they could not be 

 separated from the British form. Dr. Druce tells me he has since 

 found ericetorum in Belgium. There can be no doubt therefore of 

 its occurrence on the Continent. 1 have now seen, in the excellent 

 library of the Department of Botany, A. Grisebach's original descrip- 

 tion of 0. elodes, in Ueber die Bildung des Torfst in den Emsmooren, 

 1840, p. 25 (reprinted from Gottingen Studien, 1845), which, as it 

 appears to be little known, I give here : — 



" Orchis elodes nov. sp. tuberibus geminis palmatifidis, foliis (4-5) 

 lanceolatis acuminatis sursum decrescentibus, bracteis nervosis ovarium 

 superantibus, floribus incarnatis pictis, perigonii segmentis semi- 

 lanceolatis, exterioribus patentibus, labello trilobo, calcare descendente 

 filiformi acuminato ovarium dimidium aequante. Calcar basi i'" 

 diam., tenuissimum, versus apicem obtusiusculum attenuatum, rectum, 

 pendens. Perigonii foliola exteriora interioribus conformia et ejusdem 

 longitudinis. Labellum longitudine latitudinem aequante, lobo medio 

 exterioribus paullo breviori. Statura spithamea O. latifoliw. — Dia- 

 gnoscitur ab O. maculata L., quacum calcare attenuate, caule solido 

 foliisque supremis a spica, remotiusculis decrescentibus convenit : 

 (1) foliis inferioribus lanceolatis (neque oblongis), omnibusque paten- 

 tibus ; (2) numero foliorum plus duplo minori ; (3) bracteis omnibus 

 ovarium superantibus (neque mediis ovarium subaequantibus) ; (4) 

 perigonii segmentis augustioribus ; (5) calcare multo tenuiori fili- 

 formi ; medio linea dimidia angustiora ; (0) praecipue vero brevitate 

 calcai'is ovarium dimidium aequantis (nee superantis). — Habitat in 

 ericetis turfosis totius paludis Bourtangensis sparsim. Fl. m. Majo 

 ot Junio (O. maculata multo praecocius)." 



The above unusually full diagnosis fits our British ericetorum 

 like a glove ; if anyone doubts this let him ask himself in what 

 respects the latter differs from elodes. It not only embodies all the 

 main characters assigned by E. F. Linton (Fl. Bournemouth, p. 208, 

 1900), but actually gives two easily verifiable peculiarities not men- 

 tioned by the latter — the narrower sepals as compared with maculata, 

 Journal of Botany. — Vol. 59, [November, 1921.] y 



