464 Mr. Babington on several British and European Plants. 



PI. bifolia. Reich. Icon. Cent. ix. p. 19. ^.851. Lindl. Syn. ed. 2. 261.? ; 

 Orchid. 4. 285. (excl. syn. Linn.) 



1 am only acquainted with this plant from the figure and description quoted 

 above. It appears to be a truly distinct species, having its anther rounded at 

 the top and hooded, the cells parallel ; stigma apparently narrower than in 

 H. bifolia ; the upper lateral petals acute, not converging over the anther ; 

 the Up narrowing slightly from its base, and rather more acute than in either 

 of the preceding species ; spur very long, subulate. The whole plant is pro- 

 bably smaller than H. bifolia. 



The Linnsean herbarium having proved that the PI. brachyglossa of Reichen- 

 bach is the true O. bifolia of the Sp. PL, I have been obliged to give a new 

 name to this species, and have chosen one derived from the structure of its 

 anther. Reichenbach's description and figure are derived " ad vivam e Flora 

 Dresdensi." 



The quotation of Lindley's Syn. is probably correct, as he has altered his 

 authority in the 2nd edition of that work, and now quotes Reich., not Linn, 

 as he did in the first. I cannot, however, be certain, since he says, " anther 

 vrith converging cells"; now they appear to me to be parallel. He also says, 

 "in groves and thickets in England"; he would therefore appear to consider 

 it common : but I have not, after the examination of numerous specimens of 

 the so-called H. bifolia from various and distant parts of the country, been 

 able to detect a single individual of this species. He also continues to quote 

 Engl. Bot. i. 22. for this species as well as for H. chlorantha. He is, I believe, 

 the first botanist who published the fact that two plants, distinguished on the 

 Continent, but confoimded by English authors, exist in this country. 



