56 FAMILIAR WILD FLOWERS. 



portion of the flower having- a body and two lateral pieces 

 that do very well for arms, and a forked termination that 

 does duty for the legs. The general effect of the head of 

 flowers is very quaint, much like a series of little yellowish- 

 green dolls. The bee orchis, the Ophrys apifera of science, 

 the spider orchis, or Ophrys aranifera, and the fly orchis, 

 the Ophrys muscifera, are other interesting species, deriving 

 their common name from the likeness of the blossoms to the 

 various animal forms whose names they respectively bear. 



The broad-leaved garlic, the second plant on our plate, 

 and the Alllum ursinum of systematic botany, is perhaps 

 one of the most graceful of all our spring flowers, its 

 leaves elegant in shape, and of a delicate green, and its 

 umbels of pure white star-like flowers being conspicuously 

 beautiful, though the strong onion-like odour that it gives 

 out when gathered often leads to its being very summarily 

 dismissed from the nosegay. Though generally distributed 

 throughout the country, it is not everywhere common; 

 shady hedge-rows and moist woods are its favourite spots. 

 It is a flower of the spring and early summer, and is often 

 unconsciously the cause of much disappointment, as before 

 the flowers appear the general appearance of the plant is 

 not unlike that of the lily of the valley, and we have two 

 or three times known its blossoms anxiously watched for, 

 and its beauties very scornfully treated when they were 

 not those of the May-lily. 



