Jan.-FEB., 1920.] THE ORCHID REVIEW. 27 
artistically arranged in moss, and giving a very pleasing effect. The group 
contained the leading varieties of the winter-blooming section. 
Interesting exhibits were also contributed by Mrs. W. R. Lee, Heywood 
(gr. Mr. C. Branch); P. Smith, Esq., Ashton-on-Mersey (gr. Mr. E. W. 
Thompson); R. Ashworth, Esq., Newchurch (gr. Mr. Hough); Messrs. A. 
J. Keeling & Sons, Bradford; and Mr. D. McLeod, Chorlton-cum-Hardy, 
several of them being included in the above List of Awards. 
URING the meeting of the British Association at Bournemouth in 
September last we had the pleasure of seeing the rare bog Orchid, 
Malaxis paludosa, alive, plants having been found in a locality where it> 
fortunately, still flourishes. Probably the smallest of British Orchids, it is 
an inconspicuous plant, and this quality is likely to secure its preservation, 
at least while the general conditions of the locality remain undisturbed. 
No one would pick it as a decorative plant; few would even notice it 
unless they were im search of it, for it bears just a slender spike, some three 
to six inches high, with small, pale green flowers, and two or three small 
leaves at the base, yet the latter constitute one of its most remarkable 
features. Sir James E. Smith spoke of the leaves as roughish about the 
extremity, often somewhat fringed, so that this plant may perhaps have 
given rise to the report of a hairy-leaved Orchis (Engl. Fl., iv. p. 48). The 
significance of this fringed appearance of the leaves was explained by the 
Rev. J. S. Henslow as long ago as 1829 (Lond. Mag. Nat. Hist., i. pp. 441, 
2, fig. 197), and the figure shows well the character described. 
“This plant,” he remarks, ‘‘ occurs in great plenty in the bogs on 
Gamlingay Heath, Cambridgeshire, where I had an opportunity of 
examining it a few days ago, and ascertained the cause of the fringed 
appearance of the leaf alluded to by Smith. Every specimenI gathered 
exhibited this in a greater or less degree, and it required only the assistance 
of a common lens to show me that it was occasioned by the numerous little 
bulbous germs, sprouting from the edge, and towards the apex of the leaf. 
They were of the same colour as the leaves, green on those which were 
more exposed to the light, and quite white on those which were lowest on 
the stem, and half buried in peat and moss. Some of these germs were so 
far advanced as to have put forth the rudiments of two or three leaves, 
others less so. These plants often occur in little clusters of half a dozen or 
more close together, which may be accounted for by several of the germs 
arriving at perfection, whilst the rest perish. Otherwise, so far as I have 
observed, the plant is generally continued by a single offset, and three or 
© MALAXIS PALUDOSA: IN HAMPSHIRE. 
