ON THE CHALK 



309 



The spike of flowers is very dense, of a pyramidal form, and the 

 individual blooms are small, usually of a rose colour, but occa- 

 sionally white or nearly so. The sepals are spreading, and the lip 

 of the flower has three equal lobes which are oblong and abruptly 

 cut at the tips. The spur is slender and 

 longer than the ovary. 



The Fragrant Gymnadenia or Sweet- 

 scented Orchis {Habenaria conopsea or 

 Gymnadenia conopsea) is common on 

 chalky heaths and hilly pastures. It 

 grows from twelve to eighteen inches 

 high, has palmate, tuberous roots, and 

 oblong-lanceolate, acute, keeled leaves. 

 The flowers appear from June to August, 

 and are in a dense, elongated spike. 

 The buds are of a deep rose colour, and 

 the open flowers are very fragrant, of a 

 lighter colour, and not spotted. The 

 bracts have three veins ; the lateral 

 sepals are spreading ; the spur long and 

 slender, much longer than the ovary ; 

 and the lip of the flower has three, 

 equal, undivided lobes. 



The Green Man Orchis {Aceras 

 anthropophora), though rather rare, and 

 confined to the dry, chalky pastures of 

 East England, is too interesting to be 

 omitted from our selection. The plant 

 is from six to twelve inches high, with 

 palmate tubers, and mostly radical 

 leaves. The flowers are sessile, forming 

 a loose spike, and are strange carica- 

 tui-es of the human figure. Each has 

 a comparatively large green hood, a 

 slender yellowish lip with two lateral lobes to represent the arms, 

 and two similar terminal lobes for the legs. The lateral sepals are 

 green, ovate and convergent ; and the flower has no spur. The 

 time of flowering is June and July. 



The Green Musk Orchis [Herminium Monorchis), also rather 

 rare, is to be found in chalky pastures of the South, flowering in 

 June and July. It has oval, stalked tubers ; two lanceolate, radical 



THE Sweet-scented Orchis. 



