ORCHIDACEZ. 93 
connivent into a roundish-ovate helmet; helmet free to the base; the 
sepals maroon-purple, ultimately white, subobtuse; labellum 3-lobed, 
white dotted with red, the lateral lobes oblong-strapshaped, entire or 
notched at the apex, the middle lobe about half as long again as the 
lateral lobes, more or less deeply cleft into 2 oblong or strapshaped 
segments about as long as and scarcely broader than the lateral lobes, 
generally crenulated at the apex, commonly with a short tooth in the 
sinus between them; spur cylindrical, decurved, obtuse, about one- 
fourth the length of the ovary. 
On downs and pastures on chalky and limestone soils. Local, but 
widely distributed, extending from Devon, Isle of Wight, Sussex, and 
Kent, north to York, Durham, and Lancaster. 
England. Perennial. Early Summer. 
Rootknobs from the size of a horse-bean to that of a small walnut. 
Stem stout, 3 inches to 1 foot high. Leaves 1 to 5 inches long. Spike 
at first conical and very dense, afterwards blunt and slightly lax 
towards the base, 3 to 2 inches long. Helmet about +} inch long; 
labellum about 4 inch long. 
The helmet, composed of the 3 sepals and 2 lateral petals, is at first 
very dark maroon-purple, but becomes paler as the flowers expand, 
and before they wither assumes a white colour, and consequently, 
before all the flowers are open, the spike is dark-coloured above and 
nearly white below, which has been compared to the burnt end of a 
stick, whence the plant derives its name. 
Dwarf Dark-winged Orchis. 
French, Orchis brilé. German, Kleinbliithiges Knabenkraut. 
SPECIES IV—ORCHIS PURPUREA. Huds. 
Pirate MCCCCLI. 
Reich. Ic. Fl. Germ. et Helv. Vol. XIII. Tab. CCCLXXVIII. 
O. fusea, Jacg. Sm. Engl. Fl. Vol. IV. p.13. Hook. & Arn. Brit. Fl. ed. vii. p. 433. 
O, militaris, var. 3, Linn. Spec. Pl. p. 1334. Sm. Engl. Bot. ed.1. No. 16. Koch, Syn. 
Fl. Germ. et Helv. ed. ii. p. 788. Lindl. Syn. Brit. Fl. p. 260. 
Rootknobs undivided, ovate- or oblong-ovoid. Leaves oval-oblong. 
Flowers in a dense obtuse spike. Bracts about one-fourth as long as 
the ovary, l-nerved. Sepals and lateral petals connivent into an ovate 
helmet: the sepals subacute and hooded, at first dark chocolate-purple, 
ultimately paler purple, and striped with dark maroon-purple ; labellum 
whitish, shaded with rosy lilac or purplish-lilac, dotted with maroon- 
purple, 3-lobed, the lateral lobes strapshaped, entire or notched, the 
_ middle lobe scarcely half as long again as the lateral lobes, divided into 
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