N£0Tr7£.£— SPIRANTHES 91 



2. Spiranthes aestivalis Rich. 

 PI. 15 ; PL E, fig. 6 (p. 108). Summer Lady's Tresses 



Tubers 2-6, thick at base, tapering downwards. Roots few, short. Stem 10-20 cm. 

 or more, erect, glandular-hairy above with remains of withered leaves at base. Leaves 

 erect, short (5-8 cm.), narrow (5-9 mm.), the lower sheathing the base of the stem, 

 linear-obtuse, slightly trough-hke, glabrous, bright green, glossy on both sides, with 

 one or more nerves on each side of keel and numerous cross-veins ; the upper 1-2 

 distant, very short, bract-like, tapering, adpressed. Spike 6-1 8-flowered, slightly 

 twisted, glandular-hairy. Flowers small, tubular, pure white, sHghtly scented at • 

 night. Bracts lanceolate, tapering, 3-5 -nerved, clasping and exceeding the ovary. 

 Ovary short (± 9 mm.), sessile, 6-ridged, slightly twisted, usually glandular-hairy. 

 Ripe capsule oblong. Sepals forming a tube with the lip, linear obtuse, wliite with 

 a greenish keel, slightly glandular-hairy outside, the lateral often curving outwards. 

 Petals shorter, linear obtuse, somewhat spatulate, i -nerved. Lip oblong, trough- 

 like, exceeding sepals, expanded turned down and irregularly toothed at the tip, 

 forming a slight sack or receptacle with the ovary at the base, pure white, with two 

 nectar-secreting nipples. Column horizontal, green, slender, acute, shorter than sepals. 

 Stigma at apex of its lower surface shield-shaped, green, rounded below (without 

 the fringe of hairs of S. autumnalis), truncate above with two short central acute teeth 

 supporting the short brown linear viscidium, and left beliind when it is removed, 

 and a pale transparent line down the centre. Anther at apex of upper surface of 

 column, nib-shaped, brown, acute, with a short thick curved filament or stalk attached 

 to the grooved middle of its back. A very delicate whitish transparent membrane 

 forms a tooth lying flat on the anther on each side of this filament, and then runs 

 along the edge of the column to the corner of the stigma, forming a clinandrium 

 for the protection of the pollinia, and often ending in a small tooth on each side. 

 This tooth is represented in some works by a Uttle circle suggestive of a staminode, 

 but no staminode exists. This membrane appears to enclose the under-surface of the 

 column up to the edges of the stigma hke a transparent skin. Pollinia rather long, 

 yellowish white or sulphur-yellow, parallel with and attached to the upper surface of 

 the viscidium. 



Habitat. Marshy ground amongst rushes, sedges, and other water-loving plants. 

 Flowers July to August. 



Distribution. Now only found in the New Forest, Hants., and verging on extinc- 

 tion. Not seen in Wyre Forest, Worcestershire, since it was gathered at the margin 

 of the great bog in August, 1854, though this is a small area well Icnown to botanists. 

 It also grows in Jersey, but is very local and rare. Only eight specimens were seen 



