506 THE OKCHID FAMILY. 



Stem a foot high or rather more, of a pale-browu colour, as well as the few 

 loose sheathing scales which replace the leaves. Spike rather dense, 3 or 4 

 inches long, with a few distant flowers below it, all dmgy-browu. Sepals 

 broadly ovate, almost acute, about 2i to 3 lines long ; petals more rounded ; 

 lip twice as long, deeply cleft at the extremity into 2 oblong, diverging 

 lobes. 



In woods, dispersed over the whole of Europe, except the extreme north, 

 extending eastward to the Caucasus, although never a very common plant. 

 In Britain, it is found in many parts of England, Ireland, and southern and 

 central Scotland. Fl. spring and early summer. 



YIII. EPZFOGIUM. EPIPOGIUM. 



A single species, leafless like CoraJ/root and Neottia, but with a very dif- 

 ferent spurred flower. 



1. Iieafless Epipogiuiu. Epipogium apliyllum, Sw. 



The rootstock produces a number of short, thick, fleshy branches, like 

 those of the Coralroot. Stem about 6 inches high, of a pale colour, with a 

 few short, sheathing bracts. Flowers 3 or 4 in the raceme, rather large, of 

 a pale yellowish hue, pendulous, with the lip upwards. Sepals and petals 

 narrow -lanceolate ; lip large, ovate, somewhat concave, marked with raised 

 dots on the surface, with an oblong lobe on each side at its base, and a thick, 

 projecting spur underneath. Column short, with a shortly stalked terminal 

 anther. 



Among rotten leaves, in woods and shady places, scattered over Europe 

 and central and Russian Asia, but everywhere very scarce. In Britain, dis- 

 covered only a few years since at Tedstone Delamere, near Bromyard, in 

 Herefordshire, by Mrs. W. A. Smith. Fl. August. 



IX. SPIRANTH. SPIHANTHES. 



Eootstock producing a few oblong tubers or thickish fibres. Stem 

 leafy, or sometimes the flower-stems with scales only, and radical leaves by 

 its side. Flowers small, in a more or less spirally-twisted spike. Sepals 

 and petals nearly alike, erect or only spreading at the tips ; the lateral 

 sepals obUque, covering the base of the hp ; the upper sepal cohering with 

 the petals. Lip oblong, concave at the base, dilated and spreading at the 

 extremity. Column arching, with the anther attached to the back. 



An extensive genus, spread over the greater part of the globe, and readily 

 known by the spirally tvristed spikes. 



Leaves radical, ovate, or obloug ; the steins bearing short scales only . 1. Common S. 

 Leaves all narrow, near the base of the flowering stem. 



Spike 2 to 3 inches long, the flowers in one row 2. Summer S. 



Spike dense, 1 to 1^ inches long, the flowers in three rows .... 3. Irish S. 



1. Common Spiranth. Spiranthes autumnalis, Kich. 

 {Ophrys, Eng. Bot. t. 541. Neottia, Brit. Fl. Lady's-tresses.) 

 The rootstock produces every year 2 or 3 tliick, oblong tubers, and a tuft 

 of 3 or 4 broadly ovate or oblong, spreading radical leaves, seldom above an 



