OPHRYDE^— GYMN AD EN UN yE—GYMN ADEN I A 149 



shaped with lateral lobes, or oblong with rounded angles. Staminodes large, short, 

 rather flat. Cells of testa very faintly striate. Fruiting spike dense, 4-6 cm. long, 

 nearly all the flowers setting a capsule, somewhat like a plantain, but thicker. Capsule 

 cylindrical, glabrous, slightly glossy, with three rather broad ridges, 7-10 mm. long. 



Var. tricuspis Beck, side-lobes of lip as long as or longer than mid-lobe, appears 

 scarcely worthy of varietal rank, as the relative sizes of the lobes of the lip are not 

 constant. I found a plant on Lago Maggiore, Italy, with an undivided lip. 



Habitat. Mountain pastures and grassy slopes. Abundant on granite above 

 Chamonix at about 5000 ft. Flowers June to July, according to elevation and latitude. 

 In N. Wales I found it practically over on June 28th. 



Distribution. England from Lancashire and Yorkshire northwards. Records for 

 Sussex, E. Hants., Worcester, Salop, Northants. and Cheshire require confirmation. 

 N. Wales, Scotland to Shetlands and Western Hebrides. Widespread (but rather rare) 

 throughout Ireland, except N. Tipperary, King's County, W. Meath and Longford. 

 In Europe from Greenland and Iceland, Scandinavia, Denmark and Mid-Russia to 

 the Pyrenees, Maritime Alps, N. Italy and Northern Balkans. 



Gymnadenia albida Rich., Mem. Mus. Paris, iv, 57 (1818). 



The plant was placed under Satyruwi by Linnasus, and under Orchis by various 

 authors. It was transferred to Hahenaria in 1814 by Swartz, but this genus is now 

 restricted to exotic orchids with projecting stigmatic processes. Hartman included 

 it in his new genus Caloglossum probably because of the resemblance of the spur, 

 and of its habit and fohage to C viride. Lindley placed it under Vlatanthera (1829) 

 and later under Peristylus. Parlatore made it the type of his new genus Biahia (1858). 

 It appears, however, to be a true Gymnadenia by the three-lobed and short column, 

 spur with free nectar resembling that of G. odoratissima, and especially by the 

 attachment of each pollinium to one end of a more or less linear viscid gland, and 

 their downward and forward movement after withdrawal till they lie parallel with 

 it. It hybridises with G. conopsea and G. odoratissima. In Caloglossum the viscid 

 glands are oval, little broader than the caudicles, enclosed in a thin skin, and placed 

 one on each side of the stigma. In G. albida they are placed between the stigmas. 



As to Leucorchis, vide Gymnadenia (genus). 



Fertilisation. The white sweet-scented flowers, and the presence of a spur with 

 free nectar, show that the flower is organised for the attraction of insects. Its great 

 eflficiency in this regard is proved by the fact that almost every flower sets a seed- 

 capsule, in which respect it resembles self-fertilising plants, but this fecundity is due 

 to the visits of insects. The occurrence of flowers here and there setting no capsules 

 shows that, in the absence of such visits, fertilisation does not take place. Onjuly i ith, 

 1929, at Trient, Switzerland, I took the following Hymenoptera visiting the flowers: 



