ORCHID FAMILY 



THE SINGLE LEAF: erect; linear-lanceolate; eight inches 

 to twelve inches long; hairless on both surfaces; acute at 

 the apex; sheathing the flower stem at the base; entire; 

 parallel- veined. 



THE FLOWERS: sweet-scented, large, in a loose terminal 

 raceme, on short, angled peduncles, with a lanceolate 

 bract at the base; the sepals ovate-lanceolate, acute; the 

 petals lanceolate, obtuse, constricted near the middle; 

 the lip broadly triangular at the apex, linear-oblong at the 

 base, crested with yellow, orange or magenta-coloured 

 hairs; the column incurved; both sepals and petals glisten 

 as if wet with dew. Albinos have been found. 



THE FRUIT: a capsule. 



The truth of Mrs. Owen's warning remains, although 

 her prophecy has, fortunately, not been fulfilled. She 

 writes: " Profusely abundant now in wet places, but 

 picked for its beauty in such immense bunches that it is 

 likely to become rare before many years." A handsome 

 orchid, indeed, and an aristocratic one, too. As rarely 

 happens among the orchids, the ovary is untwisted, so 

 that the lip is on the upper instead of being on the lower 

 side of the blossom. " Not to offend by this omission, our 

 lovely flower has one of the coloured sepals brought for- 

 ward, which suits the undiscriminating taste of its visitors 

 (the bees) quite as well." 



ORCHIDACE^E ORCHID FAMILY 



Arethusa bulbosa, L. 



Magenta-crimson to rose purple Wild Pink, 



Dragon's-mouth. 

 May-June 



Arethusa: named for the nymph Arethusa. 

 Bulbosa: Latin for full of bulbs. 



THE PREFERRED HABITAT: bogs. 

 47 



