OECIIIDACEiE. 107 



Stra- Species IT.— Habenaria chlorantha. Bab. 



Plate MCCCCLXIII. 



nr!r7i. To. n. Germ, et Helv. Vol. XIII. Tab. CCCCXXX. 



Pilhl, Fl. Gall, et Germ. Exsicc. No. 2747. 



Bah. Trans. Linn. Soc. Vol. XVTI. p. 462. Man. Brit. Bot. ed. vi. p. 330. Hook. 



& Am. Brit. Fl. ed. viii. p. 437. 

 Orchis bifolia, Sm. Engl. Bot. ed. i. No. 22. 

 O. montana, Schmidt ; Gren. & Godr. Fl. de Fr. Vol. in. p. 297. 

 Platanthera clilorantlia, Reich. Koch, Syn. Fl. Germ, et Helv. ed. ii. p. 795. Fries, 



Snmm. Veg. Scand. p. 61. Pari. Fl. Ital. Vol. IE. p. 413. Eartm. Fl. Scand. 



ed. vs.. p. 191. 

 P. montana, Beich.fil. I.e. p. 123. Crep. Man. Fl. Belg. ed. ii. p. 294. 



Sepals lanceolate or ovate-lanceolate ; spur cylindrical-clavate, com- 

 pressed, decurved. Anther-cells twice as distant at the base as at the 

 apex ; caudicules elongate ; glands circular. 



On pastures, grassy banks, and open places in woods. Common, 

 and generally distributed, except in the extreme north of Scotland. 

 Frequent in Ireland. 



England, Scotland, Ireland. Peremiial. Earty Summer. 



Very similar to II. eu-bifolia, but larger in all its parts. The leaves 

 3 to 8 inches long ; the stem 1 to 2 feet high ; spike 3 to 8 inches ; 

 sepals about i- inch long, purer white than m II. eu-bifulia, consider- 

 ably broader ; the spur thicker, more compressed, and more clavate ; 

 but the most important difierence lies in the anther-cells diverging 

 greatly towards the base, and the lateral sepals are less reflexed. The 

 time of flowering is considerably earlier. 



I have met with specimens on the Reigate hills about which it was 

 difficult to decide whether to refer them to H. eu-bifolia or to H. chlor- 

 antha. I was not at that time aware of the diffei-ence in the size 

 and shape of the glands, length of the caudicule, and shape of the 

 stigmatic surface, pointed out by Mr. Darwin, or it would have been 

 interesting to see if these were intermediate as well as the more 

 obvious characters. 



Greater Butterfly Orchis. 



Mr. Darwin, in writing on tlie family of Orcliids, says of this species, " I am aware 

 that this form and the last are considered by some botanists as mere varieties of each 

 other, but we shall see that the two forms differ in a great number of characters, not 

 to mention the differences in general aspect and in the stations inhabited, with which 

 we are not here concerned. Should these two forms be hereafter proved to graduate at 

 the present day into each other, it would be a remarkable case of variation ; and I for 

 one should be as much pleased as surprised at the fact, for these two forms certainly 

 dilfer from each other more than do most s[iccies of the genus Orchis." He goes on 

 to say that, as soon as he had examined tlic Lesser Buttertly Orchis, ho felt convinced 



