I lo Bo^-Trottin^ for Orchids 



perpetuating the name and memory of their son. Thus 

 arose the strange untamable species of this family. 



The species now known under genus Orchis and 

 Habeuaria had various common names in ancient lit- 

 erature. There were five kinds of Orchis which the 

 Greeks commonly called Cynorchis ; this became in 

 Latin Testiadus canis and Tcsticulus morionis, and later 

 in England, Orchis morio. Satyrion was also an an- 

 cient common English name for the species of Cynorchis 

 known to the Greek apothecaries. 



In the sixteenth century the Purple-Fringed Orchises 

 of England were known as Satyrio7i Royall, Noble 

 Satyrion^ Palma Christi, and Royall Sta7idergrasse . In 

 fact, all species of orchids in 1578 were described under 

 the group of plants designated as Standlewort, or 

 Standergrasse. ' 



Shakespeare mentions them in Hamlet as "Long- 

 Purples" and " Dead-Men's Fingers." Tennyson also 

 speaks of them as Long- Purples in A Dirge. Rev. 

 Mr. Ellacomb, in Robinson' s Garden, alludes to these 

 orchises as " Dead-Men's Thumbs." 



The Great Royall Satyrion of England and Ger- 

 many, known to Dodoens and Lyte in 1578, was found 

 in meadows and moist woods. The flowers were light 

 purple, and gave forth sweet perfume. The roots were 

 described as double, like a pair of hands, and each 

 palm was parted into four or five small roots like fin- 

 gers ; one palm being withered and spongy, the other 

 full and sound. From this peculiarity of form many 

 ' Dodoens, History of Plants, p. 156. 1578. 



