84 REMARKABLE FLOWERS. [CHAP. 
vated in our conservatories and hothouses on account 
of their singular and beautiful forms. This illustration 
of the commonest British species will give an idea of 
the general construction of the flower in this order. 
The most peculiar feature of such construction con- 
sists in the pistil and stamens being consolidated 
into a mass called the column. The pollen grains 
are united together into masses by elastic threads, 
which unite them to a slender stalk (caudicle). These 
Fic. 88. 
pollen masses (follinia) occupy two lobes of the 
anther, and are attached by the base of the caudicle 
to the rostellum. The stigmatic surface is just below 
the rostellum, and at the entrance to the nectary or 
spur. The remarkable method by which cross-fer- 
tilisation is ensured we have already described (see 
Chapter IV.) ; we wish here to call attention to the 
grotesque forms of the flowers. One of our rarest 
native species, the Orchis hircina, or Lizard Orchis, 
has the central segment of the lip very long, tapering 
