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.foetidisshna has blue sepals, with yellow petals and 



r-N 



, -^r^^ 





f'lG 25.— Flower of spotted orchid (Prchi^ ma.cul.ita) ; purple, dappled with pink 



and white. 



spathulate stigmas, all much veined. The OrcJiidacecs 

 exhibit the same tendency far more markedly. 

 Orchis mascula, O. maciilata^ O. laxiflora, and many 

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

 In 0. militaris and 0. hircina, the variegation is 

 even more conspicuous. In 0. ustulata, the spots on 

 the lip are raised. The problematical bee-orchid, 

 Opiirys apifera, is singularly dappled on the lip and 

 disk, and has the sepals different in colour from the 



