JIAT. 6 1 



received its familiar name. Unlike the gene- 

 rality of our British orchises, its root is not 

 formed of bulbs, but of a number of fibres, 

 crossing and entangling each other, like the 

 sticks of a crow's nest. Its common companion 

 in the wood, is another species, the green tway- 

 blade, {Listera ovata,) vnih. its broadly ovate 

 leaves and spike of small yellowish-green flowers. 

 They are both of the orchis tribe, and persons 

 accustomed to this family of plants would easily 

 recosinise them as belono-ino; to it. 



jNIore conspicuous than these, and more beau- 

 tiful also, is that species of orchis commonly 

 called the ladj^ orchis, which is the brown- 

 winged orchis of the botanist, {Orchis fv sea.) 

 It is during jMay, very common in chalky woods, 

 especially in Kent, and is the handsomest of 

 our wild orchideous plants. The stem is some- 

 times tv/o or three feet high, and the large and 

 thickly set flowers form a cluster of the size oi 

 a bunch of grapes. The upper part of the 

 blossom — the helmet as it is called — is of a dark 

 brown purj)le colour, but the lower lip is white 

 and beautifully spotted. Gay enough it is to 

 represent a lady delicately attired— for " even 

 Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like 

 one of these," — but in what other respects it 

 resembles a lady, it would be hard to tell. A 

 similar remark may be made of the man orchis, 

 {Aceras anthropophei-a,) which is as much like 

 a man as an animal, and far more like some 

 of the smaller insect tribe, as the gnat. One 

 month later, and we may find on the chalky down 



