16} 0) FLOWERS OF THE WOODS AND COPSES 
pollination, But in their absence self-pollination occurs regularly. The 
pollen-mass, moreover, does not usually fail to reach the stigma in the 
same flower. 
The seeds are extremely small and light, and are dispersed by the 
wind. 
The Bee Orchid is distinctly a lime-loving plant, and addicted to 
limestone, oolite, or the chalk, and a lime soil. 
Ophrys, Pliny, is the Greek for eyebrow, alluding to the yellow 
markings on the lip, which are honey-guides leading to the nectary. 
The second Latin name refers to the resemblance of the petals in 
form to the outline of a bee. 
This Orchid is called Bee-flower, Bee Orchis, Dumble Dor, Honey- 
flower, Humble-bee. Many of these refer to the mimetic character of 
the flower. 
The root tubers have been employed to furnish jalep. 
ESSENTIAL SPECIFIC CHARACTERS :— 
293. Ophrys apifera, Huds.—Stem slender, leaves oblong, flowers 
purple, in shape resembling a bee, sepals pink within, intermediate 
lobes of lip reflexed. 
Snowdrop (Galanthus nivalis, L.) 
It would be both interesting, and surprising, if the Snowdrop 
occurred in Glacial times in Britain, but we have no record, and it 
is found to-day in Europe south of Holland, and W. Asia. It has 
been recorded from as many as sixty-four of the vice-counties of Great 
Britain, but there is no evidence that it is native except perhaps in 
Hereford and Denbigh, and elsewhere it is naturalized both in Eng- 
land and Scotland, but not in Ireland. It is said to be native in 
Edinburgh. 
The Snowdrop, so familiar in our gardens and plantations, is found 
in a semi-natural state in meadows and copses, in many cases, as in the 
case of Crocus, Tulip, Daffodil, Narcissus, &c., having only migrated 
from a garden or orchard. The Snowdrop and Crocus have a similar 
habit. The leaves are smooth, hollowed out above, lanceolate, with the 
tips curved inwards, nearly as long as the flowering stems. The Snow- 
drop is a bulbous plant, with the leaves arranged in a rosette, but erect. 
The flowers are pure white, hence the first Greek and second Latin 
and English names. They are usually drooping. The spathe en- 
closing the flower is membranous. The inner segments are greenish. 
The sepals are inversely egg-shaped and hollowed out. 
