GYNANDRIA— MONANDRIA. Orchis. 19 



V.8. t. 505. Dicks. H. Sicc.fasc. 1.15. Ehrh. Plujtoph. 96. Fl. 

 Dan. t.l\5. Gunn. Norv. v. 2. 34. 

 Habenaria albida. Br. in Jit. H. Kew. ed. 2. v. 3. 1 95. Hook. Lond. 

 t. 107. Scot. 252. 



/3. Orchis palmata, thyrso specioso, longo, densfe stipato, ex vi- 

 lidi albente. Dill, in Raii Syn. 382. 



In grassy mountain pastures. 



On Snowdon, by the road from Llanberris to Caernarvon. Raij. 



On hills not far from the house^ at Hafod, Cardiganshire. Mr. 



Todd. In dry hilly pastures of Argylshire, and in several of 



the Hebrides. Lightfoot. Plentiful in the mountainous parts of 



Yorkshire. Hooker, 



/3. In moist meadows^, not only in Wales, but also about Malham, 

 Yorkshire. Dr. Richardson. 



Perennial. June. 



Root of several, clustered, tapering, almost cylindrical, undivided 

 knobs, vvith a few slender thread-shaped radicles, from above 

 their common origin. Mr. Sowerby thought these knobs were 

 perlected, and produced a flowering plant, in successive pairs ; 

 but Dr. Wahlenberg, whose opinion is adopted by Dr. Hooker, 

 judged them to consist of two sets, each set being destined suc- 

 cessively to bear a plant, like the knobs, whether globose or pal- 

 mate, of other Orchises. These writers reckon about five knobs, 

 which they term radicles, in each cluster. The real radicles how- 

 ever, the essential part of a roo^, see Introd. to Botany, chap. 12, 

 are very distinct, as pointed out by Mr. Sowerby, an dare about 

 four, thread-shaped, more slender than the knobs, which last ap- 

 pear to me to be usually, if not invariably, three in each cluster 

 or set, formed one season, flowering the next, and withering 

 afterwards entirely away. I have transplanted various roots of 

 this species, but could never succeed in their cultivation. Stem 

 seldom more than a foot high, leafy, hollow. LeavesWght green, 

 lanceolate, rather glaucous beneath ; the lower ones broadest, 

 and rounded at the end. Spike cylindrical, dense, of many small 

 Jlowers, in which I have but seldom perceived any fragrance, 

 though Gunner and Ray describe them as sweet-scented. Brac- 

 teas ovate-lanceolate, bluntish, about the length of the germen. 

 Calyx-leaves and petals ovate, concave, moderately converging, 

 cream-coloured, all more alike in form, size and hue than in 

 most of our British Orchidece. Lip greener, about the same 

 length, in 3 deep pointed lobes, the middle one largest, and 

 sometimes bluntish. Spur incurved, short and thick. Pollen- 

 masses cloven, their globules larger and more distinct than in 

 undisputed species of Orchis. They appear, by Dr. Hooker's 

 excellent plate, each to proceed from a hood or scale ; but are 

 understood by Mr. Brown to be naked, as they ought to be in 

 his genus Habenaria. 



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