502 THE OKCHID FAMILY. 



I. MAXiAXIS. MALAXIS. 



A single species, distiuguislied as a genus from lAparis by the proportion 

 of the petals, and by the pollen-masses, which are club-shaped, in 2 pairs, 

 both suspended from a gland which terminates the column. 



1. Bos' lyialaitis. Malaxis paludosa, Sw. 



{Ophrys, Eng. Bot. t. 72.) 



A delicate plant, of 3 or 4 inches in height, the rootstock producing a 

 small solid bulb out of the ground like many exotic epiphytes, and 3 or 4 

 ovate or oblong radical leaves. Flowers very smaU, of a greenish yellow, in 

 a loose, slender raceme. Sepals ovate or broadly lanceolate, about a line 

 long, two of them erect, the third turned down ; pedicels similar, but not 

 half the size, and spreading laterally. Lip erect, shorter than the sepals, 

 but longer than the petals, ovate, concave at the base, where it embraces the 

 very short colimin. 



In spongy bogs, in northern Europe and Russian Asia, from the north of 

 France to the Ai'ctio regions, and in some mountain-districts in central 

 Europe. Spread over the greater part of Britain, but very sparingly, and 

 always difficult to find. Fl. summer, rather late. 



11. IiIPARIS. LIPARIS. 



Delicate herbs, with radical leaves, and small, greenish-yellow flowers, in 

 a terminal raceme. Sepals and petals nearly alike. Lip much broader, 

 erect or spreading and entire. Column erect or cm'ved, with a lid-like ter- 

 minal anther; the 2 pairs of pollen-masses attached by their summits, but 

 spreading laterally into the 2 anther-cells. 



Besides the European species, the genus contains a considerable number 

 from the warmer regions of both the new and the old world, several of them 

 true epiphytes. 



1. TTiro-leaved Iiiparis. Iiiparis Iioeselii, Kich. 

 {Ophrys, Eng. Bot. t. 47. Sturmia, Bab. Man.) 



The stock forms a small bulb for the following year by the side of the 

 stem. Leaves 2, about half the length of the stem, narrow -oblong or 

 broadly lanceolate, with a shorter outer sheath. Stem from 2 or 3 to near 

 6 inches high. Flowers from 3 or 4 to 8 or 10 in the raceme; the sepals 

 and petals very narrow, about 2 Unes long or rather more ; the Up broadly 

 ovate, erect at the base, turned back at the tip. Column much shorter. 



In bogs and wet places, scattered over central Europe, from southern 

 Scandinavia and western France to the Russian frontier. In Britain, only 

 in Cambridgeshire and some of the neighbouring counties. Fl. summer. 



III. CORAX.ROOT. CORALLORHIZA. 



Brown or yellowish herbs, without green leaves ; the flowers in a loose, 

 terminal spike. Sepals and petals nearly alike, the lip larger, often with 

 2 lateral lobes and 2 projecting ridges on the surface. Column shoi-t, with 

 a terminal lid-hke anther, and 2 pafrs of globular pollen-masses, attached 

 horizontall y. 



