222 



NATIVE BRITISH ORCHIDACE^ 



I. 



2. 



Distribution. The headquarters of the genus is in the Mediterranean region- 

 Southern Europe, Asia Minor and N. Africa. Two species (O. homhyliflom and 

 O luted) extend to Persia, and four to the British Isles, of which one, O. muscijera, 

 reaches as far north in the Scandinavian peninsula as 67° N. O. muscijera and 0. apijera 

 occur in Ireland, but are rare. O. arachnites is confined to Kent and Surrey, and 

 O. aranijera to Southern England. All our species except O. muscijera appear to find 

 their northern limit in the British Isles. About 29 species are known. 



KEY TO SPECIES 



Sepals green, herbaceous, firm. 



Petals linear, thread-Uke (edges rolled back), velvety, dark brownish red ; lip 3-lobed, 



flattish, with a transverse bluish band in the middle. O. muscifera 



Petals strap-shaped, flat, truncate, green, with wavy edges; lip nearly entire, very 



convex, often with two hairy hunches at the base. O. aranifera 



Sepals rose, violet-rose, or rarely white, petal-like. 

 -x Petals rose, rarely white, short, dagger-shaped, with two rounded lobes at base, 

 velvety in front; lip broad, nearly flat, with a 3-fid appendix turned up m front 

 r . \- O. arachnites 



of the hp. 



4 Petals short, triangular, or long, almost tubular through rolled-back edges; hp 



5-lobed, margins rolled back, making it look like a rounded bag, appendix 



sting-like turned up behind the lip, out of sight. O- apifera 



4a. Similar, but sepals white and lip greenish yellow. O. apifera var. chlorantha 



46 Lip lono- very narrow with two auricles (side-lobes) at base, tapering mto a 



slender appendk not turned up, with irregular yellow and brown markings 



^^ O. apifera var. Trolhi 



Fertilisation. With the exception of the Bee Orchid (0. apijera), all European 

 species are entirely dependent on insects for poUination. If the Aowe^s are not 

 visited by insects, the ovaries fall off, and no seed-capsules are produced. The tact 

 that few capsules are developed shows that the non-fertile flowers have not been 

 visited, and are also incapable of self-pollination. In self-fertilised flowers, however 

 (accidents apart), practically every flower sets a capsule. No honey is secreted. The 

 attraction they offer to insects is of a different kind. ,. . ^ .. 



Darwin said that the two shining "eyes" at the base of the lip in 0. mnsctjera- 

 "curiously like a drop of fluid or nectar "-suggested "sham nectaries more plausibly 

 than the honeyless spurs of Orchts, so named by Sprengel, but he was evidently not 

 satisfied enough with this hypothesis to adopt it. 



