iV£0TT7E^— EPIPACTIS 65 



and E. leptochila, so that the plant is easily dug up, the roots forming a tassel round 

 the base of the stem, which is single, rarely if ever clustered. The new bud has two 

 rootlets, one at each side. The leaves are very variable, but the arrangement of the 

 three lower leaves in a spiral equidistant from each other sideways is characteristic. 

 The colour of the flowers is not due to the amount of light, green-flowered forms 

 sometimes occurring in full sunlight, and red-violet ones in shade. The basal cup of 

 the lip may be circular or elliptical, shallow or relatively deep, and the epichile varies 

 from cordate to triangular, also in the smoothness or rugosity of the basal bosses, 

 and in the presence or absence of a central boss or ridge.i The sepals and petals may 

 be broad and rather obtuse, or narrower and acute.* Any of these variations may be 

 combined with any of the variations in the shape of the leaves — they do not appear 

 to be correlated. £. violacea, E. rubiginosa and E. leptochila being very local, there is 

 usually no other species present with which E. latifolia can hybridise. Its numerous 

 forms seem therefore due to an inherent tendency to variation. 



A. D. Webster says that a form of E. latifolia with creamy white flowers grows in 

 some of the Welsh woodlands. Except for the colour of the flowers it resembles the 

 type, but the stem is of an ashy yellow. I found one or two specimens there with dirty 

 white flowers, the inside of the cup of the lip green. In Canada, where the plant appears 

 to have been introduced, Mr Mousley found specimens with the whole plant — 

 stem, leaves and flowers — snow-white (except for a faint violet tinge in places), 

 and appearing to be devoid of chlorophyll, probably owing to saprophytism. 



Richter's E. orbicularis (as species) with almost circular lower leaves was considered 

 by Wettstein, who gathered it with its author, an unimportant variety. It occurs 

 with the type in Britain (var. platyphylla Irm.). 



Var. purpurea Celak., flowers dirty red-purple, is a colour-form not due to sunlight, 

 as it also occurs in the shade. 



E. Crowtheri Di-uce, described as a hybrid between E. latifolia and E. rubiginosa, 

 judging from the specimen at Kew, appears to belong to this variety. I have seen 

 similar plants in Surrey, where E. rubiginosa does not grow. 



E. atroviridis W. R. Linton (as new species) is distinguished by "two side hunches 

 and one median linear hunch descending lower than the side ones ".3 This peculiarity 

 also occurs in the type.t 



"£. media (Fries!) Babington." An Epipactis from Bomere Pool, Salop, was 

 identified by Babington as E. viridiflora Rchb.,5 but was later published by him as 

 E. media Fries,^ probably because Fries cited E. viridiflora Rchb. as a synonym of 

 E. media "according to Koch". 



• /.B. PI. 555 (1920). 2 Ibid. p. 35 (1921), text-figure. 



3 F/. Derbyshire (1903), with plate. t /.B. p. 36 (1921). 



5 Leighton, F/. Shropshire, p. 434 (1841). * Man. Brii. Bot. p. 295 (1843). 



