j84 native BRITISH ORCHIDACEiE 



maklna the lip two-lobed. Spur curving upwards, i-| as long as ovary (± i6 mm.), 

 expanding into a chamber at the mouth, obtuse, squarish or notched at the tip, 

 flattened ^dark purple, with no free honey. Column short (4 mm.), white. Stigma 

 2-lobed on roof of spur, violet-edged, rostellum pouch-Uke, violet. Anther pear- 

 shaped obtuse, violet, with a white fold between the cells at base. PoUmia greemsh, 

 caudicles hyaline, whitish, flattened, with pollen-grains visible inside. Viscid discs 

 oval, transparent, colourless. Seeds oblong, rounded at apex; testa transparent, cells 



more or less striate.' 



Easily recognised by the erect sword-shaped leaves and large dark purple flowers 

 with a white streak down the middle of the lip. Sometimes the mid-lobe has two 

 shallow lobules, making the lip slightly 4-lobed, sometimes it is wantmg, owing to 

 the absence of the two short incisions which separate it from the side-lobes. There 

 is a slight resemblance to 0. morio, but the latter is easily distinguished by its shorter 

 broader leaves and green-veined sepals. The two species hybridise readily, and the 

 cross (X 0. alatd) may usually be found where they grow together. A curious form 

 with three sepals, three petals (one replacing lip) and no spur, making the flower 

 peloric (apparently regular) is figured by Camus, Icon. PI. 36, figs. 9 and 10 (1921). 

 The flowers remain purplish when dried. 



In June, 1872, F. Arnold Lees found a few specimens in extensive mounds and 

 flats north of Hartlepool, known as the ballast-hills, on damp ground, obviously 

 from France or the Channel Islands, for the orchid grew with Sinapis chetranthus, 

 Bromus maxirmis, Cynosiirus echinatm, Lagtmis, etc.^ Several orchids occur occasionaUy 

 on the ballast, and a few have obtained a permanent footing. Prof. Heslop Harrison 

 informed me that he found 0. laxiflora on cMs, mid-Durham, and suggested that 

 it came from the ballast-heaps several miles away. 



Habitat. Marshes and moist meadows. Flowers May to June. 

 Distribution. Native in the Channel Islands, accidentally introduced with ballast 

 near Hartlepool, where it was recorded as growing on ballast-heaps by Webster, 

 Arnold Lees and others. CMs, mid-Durham, Heslop Harrison. Essentially a Mediter- 

 ranean species, with headquarters from Portugal to Greece, and extending to Palestine, 

 Asia Minor, N. Africa, Mesopotamia and Persia, also northward (like Utmantoglossum 

 and Umodorum) to S. Germany, Switzerland and Austria. 



Orchis laxiflora Lamarck, ¥1. Franc, in, 504 (1778)- O- ensifolia Villars 

 (1787)- 

 Fertilisation. As in Orchis generally, see "Pollination and Fertilisation". I have 

 seen it on two or three occasions visited by Hymenoptera (bees), but without being 

 able to catch them. 



. Camus, Icon. p. 190 (1929). ' ]-^- P- 209 (1873). 



