138 THE JOURNAL OF BOTANY 



the field though damp was hardly marshy, I came across O. latifolia 

 with ringed spots on the leaves. Presently I found another speci- 

 men, but the leaves were unspotted, and I said to myself " And here 

 is prcetermissa too." On comparison the plants appeared to be 

 identical, except as to the spots on the leaves. I was puzzled at the 

 time, but on maturer reflection I am strongly inclined to think that 

 the plant with unspotted leaves was not 'prcetermissa at all, but 

 simply a form of the ring-spotted latifolia with unspotted leaves. 

 I have, I believe, seen similar plants in Somerset and Hants, and I 

 think it is a question worth studying whether Mr. Druce has not 

 drawn his net too wide in the matter of prcBtermissa, whether he has 

 not in fact included in it plants identical with the ring-spotted 

 latifolia except as to the absence of spots on the leaves. 



To clear up this matter it is suggested that the following investi- 

 gations should be made : — 



1. Is there in Britain a form of O. latifolia with unspotted 

 leaves distinct from O. prcete^'missa ? 



2. Is there a form of prwtermissa only distinguishable from the 

 type by having spotted leaves ? 



To the best of my belief I have seen the former, but never the 

 latter. 



Oechis latifolia. Mr. Rolfe, as we have seen, considers 

 O. prcetermissa to be the true O. latijolia L., and even goes so far 

 as to suggest that the figures of O. latifolia L. in Schulze's Orch. 

 Deutschl. (t. 21) and Barla's Icon, des Orchidees represent the 

 hybrid X O. Braunii (latifolia X maculata). These figures, however, 

 are intended to depict the plant understood on the Continent to be 

 O. latifolia L. Schulze knew O. Braunii, and gives a sketch of the 

 lip of this hybrid on the same plate, and also a description, pointing 

 out the characters in which it differs from latifolia. I think we 

 must guard against taking an insular view of our flora ; after all it is 

 only a branch of the larger and much more extensive flora of the 

 Continent. All our orchids are found there with the exception 

 of Spiranthes Bomanzoffiana. It is much safer to interpret our 

 flora in the light of the continental one, than to argue from the 

 smaller to the greater. It should be noted that according to Schulze 

 hotJi the parents of 0. Braunii have spotted leaves. 



Mr. St. Quintin tells me in a letter that on July 15th, 1914, he 

 and Canon Tmvis visited a marsh of some twenty acres not far 

 from Champery, which was a marvellous garden of marsh plants, 

 thick with O. latifolia, which grew in thousands. Primula far inosa^ 

 Trollius, Bartsia alpina, a few Gymnadenia alhida, an Alliu7n, etc., 

 but O. latifolia predominated. Canon Travis, to whom he has 

 recently spoken on the subject, agrees with him that all the O. lati- 

 folia they saw there were alike, with purple flowers and spotted 

 leaves. They did not see O. maculata that day, though Mr. St. 

 Quintin noted in his journal every species of orchid they found. 

 These alpine latifolia seemed to him wonderfully similar, with little 

 or no variation, and with no suggestion of hybridism. He also says 

 that on June 8th in the Western Pyrenees he found many specimens 

 of 0. latifolia with spotted leaves, and further that, with the excep- 



