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THE FLOEAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



tinged with purple, glossy green leaves spotted with purple, and 

 showy spikes of pale lilac, or rich reddish purple dowers, the lip 

 spotted with white. They emit during the day a pleasing perfume, 

 hut at night are too strongly scented to be agreeable. Each flower 

 rises from a twisted ovary which serves the purpose of a peduncle, 

 and has a long spur turning upwards. The roots of this plant are 

 as interesting as the flowers. The plant springs from a tuber, which, 

 being rich in starch, and the source of a highly nutritious substance 

 called " salep," or " salop," we may regard as a miniature potato. 

 In common with most other tubers, that from which the plant of 

 the seasons is produced, perishes as the plant attains maturity, but 

 is succeeded by another which grows on one side of it, and attains 

 its full size long before the exhausted tuber disappears. One of the 

 consequences of this mode of reproduction is, that the plant of this 

 season is about half an inch distant from the spot whereon its parent 



: a 



EOOT OP EABLY PUBPLE OECHIS. 



a, exhausted tuber; 6, fresh tuber; 

 c, fibres of roots. 



EOOT OF BIBD'S-NEST OECHIS. 



a, fibre-like tubers ; b> fibres or 

 rootlets. 



of the previous season grew, and this, therefore, is a travelling 

 plant. The Dwarf Dark- winged Orchis, 0. ustulata, is common now 

 on chalky pastures, and especially in the neighbourhood of Dover 

 and Folkestone. It is a tiny thing, with deep green leaves, and a 

 spike of flower-buds that looks as if burnt ; but when the flowers 

 expand, their large white lips may be likened to laughing faces 

 peeping out from dark hoods. The Common T way blade, Idstera 

 ovata, has no beauty, but it is well worth looking for in copses and 

 on the shady borders of pastures. It has two broad glossy green 

 leaves, three to four inches long, placed half-way up the stem, and 



