IN THE WOODLANDS. 



63 



true woodland plant. It looks like a drooping oak-leaf, 

 and might be passed by as such, were it not for its 

 evident life and freshness. It is different from the 

 generality of our British orchids in the fact that its 

 root is not bulbous, but fibrous, which cross and en- 

 tangle each other like the sticks of a crow's nest. 



In the chalky woodlands especially of Kent, and 

 along the banks of the Thames, the Lady Orchis 

 the brown-winged orchis of the botanist (Orchis 

 fused) may be found. The stem is sometimes two or 

 even three feet high, and the thickly-set clusters of 

 flowers are proportionately large. The upper part of 

 the flower is of a brownish purple hue ; the lower lip 

 is white and beautifully spotted. The Green-man 

 Orchis (Aceras anthropopJiora) has a lax spike of green* 

 ish flowers ; but it requires the aid of some imagination 

 to find out any resemblance to the human frame. 



The trees of the woodland during April put forth 

 their buds, and many of them flower early in May. 

 The Oak, of which we have two principal species, 

 Quercus pedunculata and Q. sessiliflora, which are dis 

 tinguished from each other by the following charac- 

 teristics : the latter, which is called Durmast, has long 

 yellowish leaf-stalks, and sessile or shortly-stalked 



