ORCIII* AND ORCHID-. 



H. granui flora, stalwart., portly, and splendid, the finest of all. ^ it h 

 big spires of fringed great fragrant lilac blossoms ; H. psycl 

 smaller, in the same way. of pinker colouring and exquisite poise of 

 butterfly bloom: H. Andrewsii, white to purple, and fringed; H. 

 flmbriata. like a larger H. psych odes ; H. peramoena, very handsome, 

 violet-purple, but unfringed. All these, when procured, should be 

 planted in deep, rich, and perfectly-drained damp soil by the water- 

 side ; not in grim solitude, but among small ferns and light grasses and 

 so forth, that they may not only look at home but feel so. Imagine 

 their pleasure and consolation of company in a far land, if they found 

 they were hanging their harps beside the waters of Babylon on the 

 same willow-tree as their old neighbour Cypripediiun Reginae. the 

 Queen of Slippers. Nor, in leaving the water's edge, must we forget 

 how readily and even invasively it may be adorned by our own 

 Epipactis jxilustris. running freely about, and in late summer sending 

 up its loose, few-blossomed showers of large wax-white flowers freaked 

 with rose and gold. Not so very faraway, too. we may delight in our 

 own native Habenarias hi folia and chlorantha. with their flutt- i . 

 butterflies of greeny -white ; and even more in the long and hyacinth- 

 sweet rosy-mauve spires of Gymnadenia {HaLenaria) conopsea, flower- 

 ing in early July, and of especial beauty. But this., alas ! is beaten 

 out of the field by the alpine G. odoratissima. taller, ampler, longer- 

 spired, and of the same uplifting fragrance. This may even-where 

 (like the other) be seen in the alpine coppice and open places of the 

 mountain brushwood ; and while the hill-districts have often yielded 

 me white conopseas. once only have I been privileged to see the virgin- 

 snowy spike of the albino G. odoratissima ; this was in the debouchure 

 of that gloomy gorge the Yal Lorina, by the foot of the Cima Tombea. 

 The NigriteUas are found higher up in the fine turf of Myosctis rv.. 

 and Flannel-flower ; and here their small pyramids of mahogany or 

 glowing rub}^-red fill the air with a vanilla-- that wars with 



the pervading wine-scent of Trifolium alpinum. But so far I have 

 not coped successfully myself with NigrUeHa, and imagine they want 

 warm light turfy loam, rather hard and elastic, in company with a 

 crowd of neighbours such as they have in their home. The Cephalar-.- 

 theras are plants of the lower woodland, and offer no difficulties of 

 culture. C. pattens is the biggest we possess in England, and would 

 be improved if its white Helleborine flowers would ever open properly. 

 The true Hclleborii. dingy colouring, all except the amethyst 



and ruby-velvet form called Epipactis rubra in old not uncom- 



mon form of Yorkshire limesione screes and the same conditions in 

 its name once used to breed confusion with a far auguster 

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