212 



NATIVE BRITISH ORCHIDACEiE 



ovary Spur V" in diameter at the base, very slender, tapering towards the rather 

 obtuse apex, s'trai^ht, pendent. External divisions of perianth similar to the interior, 

 and of the same length. Labellum as long as broad, the mid-lobe a htt e shorter 

 than the outer ones: Stature the span-length of O. latifoB. Distmguished from 

 O. ^;;acu/a^a L., with wWch it agrees in the tapering spur, soHd stem, and upperrnost 

 leaves decreasing and rather distant from the spike: (i) lower leaves lanceolate (not 

 oblong), all spreading; (2) number of leaves more than twice as small; (3) bracts 

 all exc^eeding the ovary and not the median almost equaUing the ovary; (4) segments 

 of perianth narrower; (5) spur much more slender, filiform, narrower than half a Ime 

 in the middle; (6) but especiaUy in the shortness of the spur, half as long as ovary 

 (and not exceeding it). Habitat. Turfy heaths, sparsely, tluoughout the whole 

 Bourtangensian swamp. Flowers May and June (much earlier than 0. macu/afa). 



A D Webster^- was the first British botanist to distinguish e/odes from O. macuMa L. 

 He found it in cold exposed marshy ground at 700 ft. elevation in the Snowdon range 

 of mountains, where it was a dwarf and stunted plant, and showed living specimens 

 before the Botanical Society of Edinburgh, June loth, 1886, where it was promptly 

 turned down as a mere variety of O. ^;;acu/ata. Whilst strongly of opimon that it was 

 a distinct species, he pubUshed it as O. ;»acu/ata var. pmcox m deference to this 

 decision He transferred six plants from a mountain meadow to his garden, where, 

 under the most favourable circumstances of soil and situation, they failed to attam 

 any larger size. He found its average height at 700 ft. did not exceed 6 inches that 

 of O. ;^;ac,/afa on the same estate being 1 8 inches. Webster's pracox agreed well with 

 Grisebach's e/odes, except that the spur of the latter was only half as long as the ovary, 

 whilst that oi pmcox is nearly as long as the ovary. As, however, the spur of e/odes 

 varies in Britain from 4 to 10 mm.3 tliis discrepancy is of no importance. 



In 1900 E. F. Linton, in his F/. Bournemouth, described under the name ot U. eme- 

 torum a new sub-species of 0. macu/ata. He evidently did not know that a form ot 

 his plant had already been named 0. pmcox by Webster. The latter s publication 

 appears to have been overlooked, for various authors have adopted the later name 

 of ericetorum. There was for a time doubt as to whether the two were identical, but 

 it is now generally admitted that this is the case, in spite of the tall and luxuriant 

 habit of the south of England plants. I sent Mr Webster specimens of ericetorum from 

 Snowdon, wliich he said were Hke \{x^prctcox, but could not be the latter, on account 

 of their larger size. To him it was a dwarf mountain plant, bravmg the roughest 

 weather at from 5 00 to 1000 ft. elevation, and he did not realise that its stunted growth 

 was due to unfavourable conditions. 



It has been shown^ that O. macu/ata pracox and 0. ericetorum are identical witti 



I I.B. p. 506 (1921), in which the original Latin diagnosis is given 



» BriLOrch. ed. i, pp. 54-6 (1886). ^ Stephenson, /.B. p. 123 (19^1)- 



