MALAXIDEyE—LIPARlS m 



a^ and a^ of the inner whorl, here utilised for the benefit of the flower. Wlien the flower 

 opens the pollinia have already become attached to the sticky drop at the top of the 

 stia;ma. On an insect inserting its proboscis into the narrow space between the 

 upright lip and the rostellum, it will infallibly touch this projecting viscid mass, 

 and when it flies away will carry off the pollinia. This can easily be tested by inserting 

 any object of suitable size. When it visits another flower the pollen-leaves are thrust 

 into the pocket or against the viscous surface of the stigma above it, to which they 

 adhere. If the waxy pollen-leaves are placed in water for three or four days, the 

 tetrads readily fall apart, but the four grains of which each is formed still firmly 

 cohere.' 



Genus IX LIPARIS Rich. 

 (Mm. Mus. Pan's, iv, 52 (18 18)) 



Flowers not reversed, so that lip is uppermost. Column long, winged above on 

 each side of stigma. Anther inclined over top of column like a lid, soon falling off. 

 Pollinia two pairs, waxy, without caudicles, each pair attached to a viscidium. 

 Stigma transversely oblong. Rostellum with two viscidia, evanescent. 



In Europe small inconspicuous herbaceous plants with two pseudo-bulbs side by 

 side, angled stem, two greasy-looking leaves and rather small yellowish green flowers 

 in a terminal raceme with slender sepals and petals and relatively much broader lip, 

 its base nearly parallel with column and apical half bent nearly at right angles. 

 The two round but distinct viscidia disappear early, which led Richard to state in 

 his diagnosis that the genus has no rostellum. About 100 species, some epiphytic, 

 widely spread in temperate and warmer regions. 



I. LiPARIS LCESELII Rich. 

 PI. 20 A (p. 112); PL E, fig. 2 (p. 108). Fen Orchid 



Pseudo-bulbs two, above ground, side by side, the older enveloped in the reticulate 

 remains of last year's leaves. In young plants there is a short rhizome emitting thread- 

 like roots; in older plants the roots are thicker, very hairy, and grow down through 

 the envelope of decaying leaf-bases. Stem erect, 6-20 cm. tall, smooth, glabrous 

 with usually three (rarely four or five) almost winged angles above, and 2-3 greenish 

 or whitish basal leafless sheaths. At the base between the leaves the stem swells 

 into an elliptical green shining bulb, with one (or more) new bulbs enveloped in 

 soft pale scales, with simple wavy rootlets ; above the leaves the stem is a long naked 



I Ihid. p. 258. 



