7 8 FLOWERS OF THE FIELDS AND MEADOWS 



rounded teeth, and is 3-lobed, as broad as long, with the margin bent 

 back, the spur longer than the ovary, and ascending. The 2 outer 

 sepals are acute, and bent back upwards. 



The Purple Orchid is i ft. to 18 in. high, and the flowers are in 

 bloom from April to May. It is perennial, propagated by division of 

 the tubers. 



The 3 sepals and 2 upper petals arch over the stigma. The 

 lip is adapted for an alighting place, and is prolonged backwards to 



form a hollow spur with 

 walls of delicate tissue. 



The stigma is just above 

 the spur, with inferior lobes 

 which are stigmatic surfaces, 

 and the third forms the 

 beak, full of clammy fluid, 

 projecting into the mouth 

 of the spur. The 2 lateral 

 anthers are sterile scales, 

 and the perfect one stands 

 above the beak. The two 

 cells are separated by a 

 broad process connecting the 

 anther cells with the fila- 

 ment, splitting longitudin- 

 ally, and within lie the two 

 masses of pollen grains, 

 attached only by threads 

 and adhering to the upper 

 surface of the beak. When 



an insect thrusts its head into the spur it touches the beak, when the 

 covering membrane splits, and curls back, and two small disks con- 

 nected with the caudicles or stalks which bear the pollen masses, 

 coated with sticky matter below, stick to the insect's head, and the 

 fluid hardens like cement. The insect when quitting the flower 

 bears the pollinia attached to the disks away on its head. The 

 pollinia are at first erect, but when the disks dry they bend forward 

 into an almost horizontal position, so that in visiting another flower 

 they come in contact with the stigma, and cross-pollination is the 

 natural result. 



This Orchid is visited by the Humble bee Bombus pratorum, the 

 flies Empis livida, E. pennipes, Volucella bombylans, Eristalis horticola. 



Photo. Flatters & Garnett 



PURPLE ORCHIS (Orchis mascula, L.) 



