90 FAMILIAR WILD FLOWERS. 



Britain, though in some localities it is unknown, and where 

 found at all is found in abundance, its pale clustering mass 

 of flowers rendering it very easily visible in the woodland 

 shade. This pale tint of its blossoms is one ready means 

 of identification, and the extreme length of its spur is 

 another marked characteristic. This feature is readily notice- 

 able in our illustration, though another equally well-marked 

 point, the delicious fragrance of its flowers, is a quality 

 altogether too subtle for reproduction ; this odour is more 

 especially noticeable in the early morning and evening. The 

 structure of the blossoms, too, is very curious, though we 

 could scarcely hope to satisfactorily indicate it without 

 the use of diagrams and technicalities. The species is not 

 so difficult of culture as several of the others ; and those 

 who will be at the trouble of carefully removing it may 

 hope to derive enjoyment from its quaint beauty each 

 recurring spring, when possibly they may not have any 

 opportunity of seeing it growing as a wildling in its forest 

 home. 



There was once a time, ere London had become a pro- 

 vince of brick and mortar, when the citizens had little or no 

 need to transport the butterfly orchis to their urban gar- 

 dens. We find it mentioned, as one of the plants of the 

 metropolitan district, in the "Flora Londinensis" of Curtis; 

 and on turning to old Gerarde, an author who always gives 

 London localities if possible, we find that he writes as fol- 

 lows concerning our plant : " That kinde which resembleth 

 the white Butterfly, groweth upon the declining of the hill 

 at the north end of Hampsted heath, neere unto a small 

 cottage there in the way side, as yee go from London to 

 Hendon, a village thereby. It groweth in the fields 

 adjoyning to the pond or pinnefold without the gate, at 



