A RIVERSIDE BOUQUET 



Helleborine and Orchids 



I mentioned the violet helleborine as a plant to 

 be found to-day at Selborne. A flower-lover has 

 since written to me : " I know E. latifolia, E. media, 

 E. atrorubens, E. palustris, but have never heard of 

 E. violacea. Which helleborine is it that is referred 

 to ? All, except latifolia, are rather scarce plants." 

 I cannot tell whether this violet helleborine is re- 

 garded by most botanists as a distinct species, or 

 a variety of the broad-leafed helleborine ; but so 

 good a botanist as Mr. Townsend admits it into his 

 " Flora of Hampshire " as a species. In the new 

 edition of his delightful work the flowers' address 

 book I call it, labour of over half a century of love 

 he writes of it as a very rare plant, and gives 

 1873 as the first record. 



A fantastic, beautiful plant of this family is the 

 marsh helleborine. Some specimens were brought 

 to us in a choice bouquet of riverside wild flowers, 

 and each blossom held a large glistening bead of 

 nectar, fee or due of moth " marriage priests " of 

 the helleborine ; it added not a little to the curious 

 beauty of the flower. No other wild English orchid, 

 that I have seen holds so much liquid as did these 

 marsh helleborines, though several are stored with 

 sweetmeats. On a serene summer evening the 

 aroma of a large patch of the fragrant orchid, 

 conopsea, is delicious. There is a water meadow 

 near Romsey where I have found it in abundance 

 close to the river, and it sometimes perfumes the 



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