94 ENGLISH BOTANY. 
2 oblong or oblong-obovate segments, shorter than and four or five 
times as broad as the lateral lobes, crenulated at the apex, and usually 
with a small tooth in the sinus between them; spur cylindrical, 
decurved, blunt, about half as long as the ovary. 
In copses and open woods. Rarely on open downs on chalky soil. 
Very local, and apparently confined to the county of Kent. Most plen- 
tiful in the neighbourhood of Cobham, and between Chatham and 
Sittingbourne. In 1864 I found a single specimen on the downs 
between Folkestone and Hythe. It has been reported from Sussex 
and Lincoln, but these counties require confirmation. 
England. Perennial. Early Summer. 
Rootknobs from the size of a damson plum to that of a pigeon’s egg. 
Stem very stout, 1 to 3 feet high. 
Leaves 3 to 6 inches long by 1} to 2 inches broad, chiefly radical. 
Spike 2 to 6 inches. Helmet nearly } inch long; labellum } inch, 
the ground colour varying from nearly white to rosy lilac, thickly 
spotted with raised dark purple dots. . 
The upper part of the spike is nearly black, from the very dark 
colour of the unexpanded sepals, and even when fully grown these 
never become white, as in O. ustulata, though the purple becomes 
paler, and marked with dark lines. 
Great Dark-winged Orchis. 
German, Purpurrothes Knabenkraut. 
SPECIES V—ORCHIS MILITARIS. “Lin.” Jacq. 
Pirate MCCCCLII. 
Reich. Ic. Fl. Germ. et Helv. Vol. XIII. Tab. CCCLXXVI. 
Billot, F). Gall. et Germ. Exsice. No. 3476. 
O. Rivini, Govan. Reich. fil. 1.c. p. 30. Crep. Man. FI. Belg. ed. u1. p. 292. 
O. galiata, Lam. D.C. Fi. Fr. Vol. III. p. 249. 
Rootknobs undivided, ovate-ovoid or subglobular. Leaves elliptical- 
oblong. Flowers in a dense obtuse spike. Bracts about one-fourth 
the length of the ovary, l-nerved. Sepals and lateral petals connivent 
into a lanceolate helmet; the sepals acuminate, acute, white-veined, 
and sometimes dotted with purple; labellum whitish, shaded with 
pale purple and dotted with dark purple, 3-lobed, the lateral lobe 
strapshaped, entire, the middle lobe half as long again as the la 
lobes, divided into 2 oblong-strapshaped segments, shorter than am 
three or four times as broad as the lateral lobes, and rounded © 
truncate at the apex, with a conspicuous tooth in the sinus betw 
them; spur cylindrical, decurved, blunt, about half as long as the ovary. 
a 
