OPHRYDE^—SERAPIADIN^— ORCHIS 199 



Stem taller; leaves long, narrow, lanceolate, tapering gradually, with ringed spots, 

 very distinctive of the two forms. Flowers pale lilac with violet markings, lip broader 

 than long, shallowly 3-lobed at apex, mid-lobe small, not prolonged. Spur thick, 

 tapering. Habitat: marshes. Four plants sent to me at the same time, and others 

 sent to Dr Stephenson, agreed well with English O. latijolia. 



Heer Vermeulen does not think that O.jtmiaUs can be a hybrid between 0. pmter- 

 missa Dr. and O. maailata, as the latter is entirely absent from the low turf-moor 

 district where it occurred. Above Nice I found O. latifoiia with small dots, or oval, 

 transverse, or ringed leaf-spots, or unspotted, growing together, evidently pure, no 

 other dactylorchid existing in the neighbourhood.' 



Mr T. A. Dymes in his paper on the "Seeds of the Marsh Orchids" read before 

 the Linnean Society, June 21st, 1923,^ expressed a doubt whether the seeds of British 

 plants sent to him as 0. latifoiia were not of hybrid origin. In a paper read before the 

 same Society, June 19th, 1924, he stated, however, that he had since received plants 

 from Chippenham Fen and from Winchester, agreeing in other respects with 0. iati- 

 folia L., whose seeds were obviously pure, showing no sign of O. mactdata or of 

 hybridism, though the plants had spotted leaves. The seeds were "very close to 

 O. pmtermissa, the differences being merely in the degree of the qualities common 

 to both". "The evidence of the seeds of these plants, which came from Winchester 

 and Chippenham Fen, suggests that 0. latijolia L. and O. pmtermissa are close allies 

 or forms of the same species." 



For isolated specimens of O. latifoiia at Vence, Alpes Maritimes, France, very 

 similar in appearance to 0. pmtermissa, see above, under O. pmtermissa. Mr S. A. 

 Bennetts states that in a N. Irish station where 0. praitermissa and 0. maculata grow 

 together hybrids occur in some quantity, but he has never seen any with ring-spotted 

 leaves. 



Habitat. Marshes, moist meadows, edges of swamps, slopes with tricldes of 

 water, etc. A few plants have been found on chalk downs, where they are accidental 

 casuals which have survived unfavourable conditions. It has been observed up to 

 6000 ft. on the Continent. Flowers end of May to August, according to latitude, 

 elevation and season, the main flowering period in England being in June. 



Distribution. Probably throughout Great Britain, but said to be of doubtful 

 occurrence in Ireland {Cjhele hihernica, p. 345 (1898)). As O.pratermissa, and by some 

 authors O. incarnata, were included in O. latifoiia until recently, early records do not 

 distinguish between them and 0. latifoiia. Nearly all Europe, Caucasus, Transcaucasia, 

 Northern Persia. 



Orchis latifoiia L. {Sp.pl. p. 941 (1753)) was a composite species embracing 0. incar- 

 nata, O. latifoiia (as described above), and O. sambucina, a plant of dry alpine slopes 

 • J.B. p. 286 (1920). = O.K. p. 266 (1913). 3 j,B. p. 290 (1920). 



