508 



vided, sheathing the stem ; sometimes wanting, as in 

 Orchis abortiva. Appendages none at all, except brac- 

 teas. Inflorescence terminal, either spiked or racemose. 

 Fructification irregular, and very singular, for it is impos- 

 sible to say what is calyx, and what corolla ; nor is this 

 point of much importance, nature having placed no limits 

 between them. There are five petals ; besides a nectary, 

 which makes, as it were, a sixth. These five seem to 

 constitute an upper lip, the nectary an under one. Or it 

 may be said that the corolla is composed of three outer, 

 often ruder petals ; and three inner, the lowermost of 

 which ought rather to be denominated a nectary. This 

 last is various in different genera, having its appropriate 

 figure and dimensions, while the rest of the petals are 

 more uniform. Sometimes the middlemost of the five 

 petals, composing the upper lip, (like that of a ringent or 

 helmet-shaped flower,) is more erect and dilated ; but I 

 have received some species from the Cape of Good Hope, 

 in which these petals are united to each other, and elon- 

 gated at their common base into a spur. Such will con- 

 stitute anew division or genus, of this family, as it stands 

 in the Species Plantarum, many of which have a spur 

 from the base of the lower lip, or nectary. The petals 

 however do not afford sufficient distinctions, for genera 

 or species. The former are determined by the nectary, 

 which is for that purpose principally to be regarded. 

 There is indeed no occasion to advert to any other part 

 than the flower of these plants, for distinguishing either 

 genera or species. Vaillant therefore, and Seguir, have 

 contented themselves with delineating their various flowers 

 alone." 



" The stamens consist of two anthers, nearly without 

 filaments, very singular, and peculiar to this order, con- 

 cealed in a double pouch or hood, but their pollen has 

 not been ascertained. They are ' contracted at the base, 

 naked, or destitute of a skin, divisible like the pulp of an 

 orange, and covered each by a cell open underneath, in- 



