OECHIDACEJE. 503 



Besides the European species, the genus comprises a small number from 

 North America and eastern Asia. 



1. Spurless Coralroot. Corallorbiza innata, £r. 



{Ophrys Corallorhiza, Eng. Bot. t. 1547.) 

 A slender plant, 6 to 9 inches high, of a light brown or pale yellow colour, 

 slightly tinged with green in the lower part, with a few short, sheathing 

 scales instead of leaves ; the rootstock forming a number of short, thick, 

 fleshy, club-shaped fibres, densely interwoven, and nearly white. Flowers 

 small, of a yellowish green ; the sepals narrow-lanceolate, about 2 lines 

 long ; the petals rather shorter ; the lip oblong, white, and hanging. 



In moist woods, widely diffused over northern and central Europe, 

 Russian Asia, and North America, extending from northern Italy to the 

 Arctic regions. In Britain, only known in a few locaUties in Scotland. Fl. 

 summer. 



IV. EPIPACTIS. EPIPACTIS. 



Herbs, with a leafy stem, and purple, brown, or whitish flowers, rarely 

 tinged with red, in a loose raceme. Periantli spreading ; the petals shorter 

 than the sepals but otherwise similar ; the lip free fi-om the column, thick 

 and concave at the base, the terminal portion broad and petal-hke, with 

 2 protuberances at its base. Column short ; the anthers terminal ; the 

 pollen very loosely cohering in the poUen-masses. 



A small genus, ranging over the temperate regions of the northern hemi- 

 sphere. 



Eaceme long and leafy. Flowers distant, dull green or purplish ... 1. Broad E. 

 Raceme rather loose but short. Sepals pale purpUsn-green ; the Hp 



white, tinged with pink 2. Marsh E. 



1. Broad Epipactis. Epipactis latifolia, Sw. 



(Serapias, Eng. Bot. t. 269, E. pur^mrata, Suppl. t. 2275, E. ovalis, 

 Suppl. t. 2884. E. media, Bab. Man.) 



Rootstock shortly creeping, with rather thick fibres. Stem usually 2 to 3 

 feet high. Leaves strongly ribbed ; the lower ones ovate and s'tem-claspuig ; 

 the upjier ones narrower, lanceolate, and pointed, gradually passing into the 

 linear bracts, of which the lower ones are often longer than the flowers. 

 Plowers pendulous, in a long, one-sided raceme, varying in colour from green 

 to a dingy purple. Sepals ovate-lanceolate, about 3 or 4 lines lojig. Petals 

 rather smaller. Lip rather small, the lower portion very sliort. . 



In woods and shady places, dispersed over the whole of Europe and Rus- 

 sian Asia, except the extreme north. Not unfrequent in Britain, but often 

 appearing only m single specimens. Fl. summer, rather late. The breadth 

 of the upper leaves, and the precise form and proportions of the terminal 

 lobe of the perianth-lip are liable to considerable variation, but the latter is 

 always much smaller than in the marsh E., and never white. 



-> 2. Marsh Epipactis. Epipactis palustris, Sw. 



{Serapias, Eng. Bot. t. 270.) 

 Not so tall as the broad E., the leaves narrower, usually lanceolate, and 

 the bracts all shorter than the flowers. Racemes loose, but much closer 

 than in the broad E. and not one-sided ; the flowers larger, slightly droop- 



