EARLY SUMMER FLOWERS 199 



each case. The description of Orchis maculata applies in general 

 to a number of our native Orchids. 



For the study of the Spotted Orchis care must be 

 taken to obtain complete specimens. The plant must be very 

 carefully dug up, and the underground parts freed from the 

 surrounding soil. When this is done the plant will be seen to 

 consist of two swollen, tuberous structures and a number of 

 ordinary roots below ground, and of a single erect stem bearing 

 foliage-leaves below and ending in the inflorescence of crowded, 

 whitish-lilac flowers. Smaller specimens which do not flower 

 should be studied as well as the larger plants, and observation 

 should be carried on throughout the season, so that the annual 

 history can be followed. 



The two tubers at the base of the plant present important 

 points of difference (Fig. 92, i). They are thick swollen struc- 

 tures divided at the free end in a palmate fashion ; each lobe con- 

 tinues as a cylindrical root. The tuber is evidently a peculiarly 

 modified root or group of roots. It is modified for the storage of 

 reserve food material. One of the two tubers stands immediately 

 at the base of the leafy shoot of the plant, while the other appears 

 to be attached to the side of the lowest part of the shoot. The 

 latter tuber is plump, firm, and of a white colour. Above it is a 

 bud to which the tuber is related. The bud which once stood above 

 the other tuber, which is now brownish and soft, has grown into 

 the leafy shoot bearing the inflorescence. The growth took place 

 at the expense of the material stored in the old tuber, which is 

 now practically emptied of its contents. From the stem im- 

 mediately above the tuber a number of long, cylindrical, un- 

 branched roots have developed, and above this the stem bears 

 two or three scale-leaves. These are hidden below the soil, and 

 are brown or colourless. The bud mentioned above as connected 

 with the new tuber was borne in the axil of the lowest or second 

 lowest of these scales, but has enlarged and burst through the 

 base of the scale-leaf ; it is thus visible without any dissection. 

 The new root-tuber springs from the base of this bud. 



We can now form a clear idea of how the growth of this Orchid 

 continues from season to season. When the plant dies down in 

 the autumn all that is left in the soil is a tuber, stored with food 



