THE COMMON OECHIS 



(Orchis mascula. Nat. Ord., Orchidacea) 

 AND 



BEOAD-LEAVED GAELIC. 



(Alllum ursinum. Nat. Ord., Liliacece). 



HE common or early purple orchis, 

 one of the subjects figured on the 

 present plate, may not uncommonly 

 be met with in most parts of Eng-- 

 land in meadows, pasture-land, and 

 the wide expanses of open down-land 

 that in some districts form so marked 

 a feature in the scenery, though, 

 like many other members of the 

 order, it seems to prefer some geological 

 conditions of soil more than others. In 

 meadow-land the plant often attains a 

 height of a foot or more, while on the 

 exposed and breezy downs it is rarely 

 to be found above half as high. The 

 flowers are ordinarily of a rich purple 

 colour, though at times they may be 

 found of almost every gradation between 

 this normal state and pure white. The plant may be found 

 in flower from about the middle of April to the middle 

 of June, a single flower-stalk being thrown up from each 

 plant. The leaves are of a lanceolate form, and rarely rise 

 far from the ground, the general effect, therefore, of the 



