Juty-Aucust, 1918.) THE ORCHID REVIEW. 165 
latifolia as ‘much spotted, the chocolate-coloured spots often circles with 
the centres of the normal colour.” The latter we refer to O. Braunii, and 
the fact that such forms abound where O. latifolia grows intermixed with 
O. maculata is significant. A remark by Curtis is interesting in this con- 
nection. ‘ Haller represents the leaves somewhat spotted. . . . We do not 
find them so in the neighbourhood of London, but probably they may be so 
in other places; and should that be the case, these two plants will approach 
still nearer to each other.” The inference to-day might have been different. 
ORCHIS INCARNATA, L. (Fl. Suec., ed. 2, p. 313) has a most confused 
history, which we shall only attempt to extricate so far as Britain is 
concerned. It was definitely included as British by Leighton in 1841 (Fl. 
Shropsh., p. 429), and Babington afterwards remarked, *‘ First noticed by 
me in the year 1833, but not then destinguished from O. latifolia (FJ. Camb., 
p. 228). And it can be traced back at least to 1690, for it is the O. latifolia 
ar. 8, Smith Fl. Brit.. iii. p. 924, the O. palmata palustris tota rubra, Ray 
Strip. Brit., ed. 3, p. 382, and the flesh coloured variety of O. palmata non 
maculata, Ray, l.c., ed. 1, p. 172. It may even go back as British to 1597, 
for it is the Serapias minor nitente flore, Gerarde Herb., pp. 171, 172, fig. 4, 
but no locality is given. Morison, in 1699, P/. Hist. Oxf., ili. p. 498, again 
gives no locality, but the habitat, “‘ uliginosis, presertim ubi nigrior terra est,” 
is characteristic. And a figure appeared as long ago as 1821, for the O. 
latifolia, Curt. Fl. Lond., ii. t. 30, is clearly a very fine O. incarnata, and 
the author remarked, ‘‘ We need go no further than Battersea meadows to 
find this plant in tolerable abundance; at a greater distance from town it 
will be found much more plentifully ; it flowers towards the latter end of 
May. With us pink is the most predominant colour of its blossoms, though 
they are frequently found purple, and sometimes white; even in the same 
meadow.” The species is readily distinguished from O. latifolia by its 
narrow leaves, which are somewhat cucullate at the extreme apex, the 
tather smaller, usually pink flowers, with reflexed, not spreading, lateral 
sepals, and a narrower, less distinctly three-lobed lip, which is more reflexed 
at the sides, and by its commencing to flower about a fortnight earlier under 
the same conditions. The distinction between it and O. latifolia has been 
obscured by the presence of hybrid intermediates where the two grow 
intermixed. 
OrcHIs Macutata, L., is typically a plant of drier situations, but is 
sometimes found in marshes, and hybridises freely with O. latifolia, and 
more sparingly with O. incarnata, perhaps because the two less frequently 
gtow intermixed. It is also more abundant and more generally diffused 
than the other two species, and possesses a range of variation commensurate 
with the diverse conditions under which it grows. This variation has 
recently led to an attempt to subdivide it into three species, a point already 
