OECHIDACEiE. 507 



inch long. Flowering stems by the side of tlie tuft of leaves, 6 to 8 inches 

 high, green, with short, sheathmg, pointed scales, very seldom growing out 

 into very short, linear leaves. Flowers white, with a sweet smell of almonds, 

 in a rather close spiral spike of about 2 inclies, all diverging horizontally to 

 one side, whilst the bracts remain erect on the opposite side. 



On di-y, hilly pastures, all over Europe, except the extreme north, ex- 

 tending eastward to the Caucasus. Abundant in most parts of England, 

 but not further north than Westmoreland and Yorkshire, and occurs also 

 in Ireland. Fl. autumn. 



2. Summer Spiranth. Spiranthes aestivalis, Eich. 



(Eng. Bot. Suppl. t. 2817. Neottia, Brit. Fl.) 

 Eootstoek more liorizontal than in the common S., with longer, more 

 cylindrical tubers. Leaves radical, or on tlie flower-stem near the base, 

 narrow-lanceolate or linear. Stem rather taller than in the common S., 

 and the flowers rather larger. 



In bogs and marshes, chiefly in southern Europe, extending over the 

 greater part of France, but scarcely into central Germany. The only 

 known British stations are in a bog in the New Forest, in Hampshire, and 

 in the Channel Islands. Fl. late in summer. 



3. Irish Spiranth. Spiranthes g'emmipara, Lindl. 

 {Neottia, Eng. Bot. Suppl. t. 2786. S. cernua, Bab. Man.) 



Stem leafy, 4 to 6 inches high, often scarcely longer than the linear-lan- 

 ceolate or narrow-oblong i-adical and lower leaves. Spike dense, from 1 to 

 I5 inches long ; the flowers closely packed in 3 rows, and larger than in 

 the summer S. ; the ovai-y shorter, and the lip broader at the base. 



In a bog at Bearhaven, near Castletown, in tlie county of Cork, in Ire- 

 land, the only station at present known. Fl. August and September. This 

 very scarce species, only known fi-om a small number of dried specimens, 

 wiU require further comparison with the forms assumed in south-western 

 Europe by the summer S. and its allies. At present it is a solitai-y instance 

 of a species limited to the British Isles ; for Dr. Lindley has shown that it 

 was erroneously referred to the North American S. cernua, a plant which 

 at first sight it very closely resembles. 



\ 



X. GOODVERA. GOODTERA. 



Yery near to Spiranth, but the spike is not spiral, and the lip does not 

 embrace the column, has no callosities at the base, and is contracted at the 

 top into a recurved point. 



The species are very few, all from the northern hemisphere, and gene- 

 rally from high latitudes. 



1. Creeping Goodyera. Goodyera repens, Br. 



{Satyrium, Eng. Bot. t. 289.) 

 Kootstock shortly creeping, with a few thick fibres. Flowering sterna 

 6 inches to near a foot high, with a few ovate stalked leaves near the base. 

 Spike one-sided as in the common Spiranth, but straight, with rather 

 smaller flowers of a greenish white ; the lateral sepals rather shorter, and 

 more spreading than the upper sepal and the petals. 



