VARIEGATION. 



69 



plants. As a rule, the spots or patches of intrusive 

 colour are developed transversely near the palate or 

 around the throat. Purple, red, or blue appear to be 

 the prevalent ground-tones, with white and yellow 

 introduced as contrasted tints to heighten the effect 

 of the principal constructive parts. 



Among Monocotyledons, such plants as the highly 

 modified Iris genus show similar results. Our own 

 I . fcetidissima has blue sepals, with yellow petals and 



FIG 26. Flower of spotted orchid (Orchi* tnaculiita) ; purple, dappled with pink 

 and white. 



spathulate stigmas, all much veined. The Orchidacea 

 exhibit the same tendency far more markedly. 

 OrcJiis mascula, O. maculata, O. laxiflora, and many 

 other British species have the lip spotted (Fig. 26). 

 In O. militaris and O. hircina, the variegation is 

 even more conspicuous. In O. ustulata, the spots on 

 the lip are raised., The problematical bee-orchid, 

 Ophrys apifera, is singularly dappled on the lip and 

 disk, and has the sepals different in colour from the 



