JV£0TT7£yE— EPIPACTIS 69 



the latter, both at home and abroad. It diiFers from E. leptochila as follows. Bud with 

 two rootlets, not one only. Stem violet, not pale green; internodes long. Leaves 

 small, distant, not ovate. Epichile white, cordate, curved downwards, not green, 

 tapering, straight. Anther not stalked. No incision between front and rear of column. 

 Rostellum visible in all flowers, on lightly touching which the pollinia are easily 

 removed. For fuller comparison, with figures, see /.B. p. 40 (1919) and PI. K, p. 220. 



Habitat. Essentially a woodland plant, preferring rather deep shade, where there 

 is little undergrowth. Fleischmann and Rechinger say {O.B.Z. p. 267 (1905)) that 

 it lives in the twilight of the beech-woods, thick with fallen leaves, usually away 

 from paths, appearing suddenly like a wood spirit in the deep solitude of the woods. 

 In Britain it is not confined to beech-woods, but occurs in copses of mixed growth, 

 and, as far as I have seen, on calcareous soil. Flowers August to September. The 

 Horsham purpurata was found in July, and Smith's specimen in June, which was 

 extraordinarily early — is it possible that extreme saprophytism favours early flowering ? 

 Rare and local. 



Distribution. Southern counties from Kent to Gloucester, Berks., Bucks., Oxon. 

 (stems 20-30, Druce), Bedford, Worcester. Not recorded from the Isle of Wight. 

 Early records are unreliable, as the plant was confused with jE. leptochila (under the 

 name £. media). France, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Russia. 



Epipactis violacea Durand Duquesnay, Cat. pi. Lisieux, p. 102 (1846), as 

 E. LATiFOLiA var. VIOLACEA. Borcau, Babington {Man. Brit. Bot. ed. 8, 

 p. 350), Schinz and Keller, E. Helleborine c Ep. varians Crantz (1769). 

 E. SESsiLiFOLiA Petermann (1844). E. Helleborine 5. violacea Reichen- 

 bach fil. (185 1). E. purpurata Smith, Efigl. Fl. iv, 36 (1828). 



Crantz's Ep. varians is the oldest name, but such eminent orchid monographers as 

 Reichenbach fil. and Camus thought liis plant was E. viridiflora. Fleischmann and 

 Rechinger made out a strong case for its identity with violacea, but admitted that 

 universal agreement on this point could hardly be expected. E. sessilifolia is two 

 years earlier than violacea, but Petermann himself abandoned it. Smith's E. purpurata 

 was not based on typical violacea, but on an anomalous specimen so rare that no other 

 example was found in Britain till 191 9, and is best restricted to the form to which it 

 was originally given. 



Fertilisation. E. violacea is fertilised by wasps in exactly the same manner as 

 E. latifolia, and is extremely well visited by these insects. Near Guildford on August 

 23rd, 1918, 1 saw a wasp assiduously visit 12 flowers on one spike, and was surprised 

 to see that it carried no pollinia, until I found that all the pollinia had been previously 

 removed from the flowers. Examination of a number of spikes showed that the 

 pollinia had been carried off from nearly all the flowers, except the most recently 



