264 ORCHIDACE.^. 



doing well : and when otherwise, there is no help for it but turn 

 them out and get a fresh supply from the same source. 



0. latifolia {Broad-leaved O.) — This species grows about i 

 foot high. The leaves are egg-shaped or broadly lance-shaped, 

 sometimes spotted, more usually not. The flowers are purple, 

 slightly variegated with a lighter shade of the same colour, in 

 long dense spikes. A native of moist pastures in Britain, the 

 Continent of Europe, and northern Asia. Flowers in May and 

 June. 



0. laxiflora {Loose-spiked O.) — A rather luxuriant and hand- 

 some species, growing i foot or 18 inches high. The leaves 

 are narrow, lance-shaped, occasionally spotted. The flowers 

 are rich purplish-red, in long loose spikes, opening in May and 

 June. Native of the Isles of Jersey and Guernsey and many 

 countries of the adjoining Continent. 



0. maculata {Spotted 0.) — A very beautiful plant, growing 

 about I foot high. The leaves are usually lance-shaped and 

 spotted. The flowers are pink or purple, but varying in the 

 depth of colour, with the lip usually marbled ^^^th a deeper 

 shade ; they are produced in handsome spikes about May and 

 June. 



0. militaris {Military 0.) — A very beautiful plant, growing i 

 or 2 feet high. The leaves below are long, broadly oval, or 

 broadly lance-shaped. The flowers are in dense spikes, are 

 purple, appearing in May or June. A rather local native of 

 Britain, but abundant on the Continent in upland pastures. O. 

 fusca of the catalogues is a marked variety of this plant with 

 darker purple flowers. 



Ophrys. — This is a singular and beautiful group, equal in 

 beauty if not so showy as the last. Their culture in the open 

 border is hardly practicable, I fear, but they may be established 

 in pots and on rockwork with facility; and the same means and 

 method must be resorted to as have been already described 

 under Orchis for procuring stock. They are more impatient of 

 wet in winter than the species of the last group, and should be 

 well drained if left out on the rockwork, and the same also in 

 pots, for though we find them luxuriating often in moist pastures 

 in nature, they will not submit to the same in cultivation. They 

 are not so particular about shade as the Orchis, but are the 

 better for having the surface of the soil clothed with some dwarf 

 carpeting of herbage. 



0. apifera {Bee O.) — The plant grows from 9 inches to i foot 

 or more high. The leaves are lance-shaped, rather broad, and 

 bluntish. The curious and beautiful flowers are produced in 

 loose spikes at the top of the stems, and consist of the egg- 



