Orchids 305 
looking more closely we find that the spur—which 
varies from half an inch to an inch and a half long 
—is so slender that bees can make no use of it. 
The rare Bog Orchis (Malaxis paludosa) has tiny 
yellow-green flowers which are not twisted on their 
stalk, so that the lip comes to the upper side of the 
flower, its base incurved and embracing the column. 
The anther is hinged to the top of the column, and 
contains four pollinia, which are all attached to one 
gland. The plant is peculiar in that the leaves 
produce bulbils at their edges, and these develop 
into new plants. Closely allied to Malaxis we have 
two species of Orchids representing two separate 
genera which are of peculiar interest because they 
introduce us to a condition and habit of life differing 
widely from that of the plants we have been 
considering hitherto. Coral-root (Corallorhiza 
wmnata) and Bird’s-nest (Neottia nidus- avis) are 
known to botanists as saproplytes. In order to 
obtain the carbon wherewith so much of the plant is 
built up, the carbon-dioxide (or carbonic-acid gas) of 
the atmosphere is broken up by the activity of the 
chlorophyll, or green colouring matter. Some plants, 
however, do not possess this chlorophyll, and these 
are entirely lacking in the green colour. When 
chlorophyll is absent from a flowering plant, it is a 
sign that the plant has given up the manufacture of 
its own building materials and has learned to obtain 
them by an easier process. Such a plant may be a 
true parasite, getting these valuable materials in the 
raw state by tapping the vessels of its host, or it 
may be a saprophyte, which feeds upon the decom- 
posing forms of other plants which have already 
