TTahciKuia.] okciiidace.'e. 4k1 



lateral petals connivent, cells of the anther very distant at the 

 base converging at their summits. Br. Fl. p. 424. Bah. Linn. 

 Trans, xvii. p. 462. Orchis bifolia (sed non Linn, secund. Babing- 

 ton). E. B. i. t. 22. Platanthera chlorantha, Fl. Dan. fasc. xl. 

 t. 20362 (opt.) 



(8. Flowers regular, without a spur. 



In thickets, groves, moist open places in woods, and on grassy slopes ; very fre- 

 quent, i*";. May, June. If. 



E. il/ed.— Common about St. John's, in woods near Sea grove, in Quarr copse, 

 and elsewhere around Eyde. Abundant in the grounds at Norris castle. Plen- 

 tiful in woods at the Priory, 1846. Woods and pastures about Combley, Dux- 

 more, and all that vicinity, frequent, 1844. Wood at the mouth of the Wootton 

 river on the West side, plentifully, 1845. Wood (Combley Great Wood ?) near 

 Newchurch, 1844. 



W. Med. — Common in woods about Calhourne, Thorley, Swainston, &c. In 

 the grounds of Mrs. Goodwin at W. Cowes. 



/3. Grounds at Norris castle, very rare, 1838. 



Root of 2 fleshy, oblong, pointed tubers, with several short, stout, downy fibres 

 immediately above ihem. Radical leaves mostly 2, sometimes 3, rarely 4, shorter 

 than the stem, elliptical or elliptical-lanceolate, sometimes inclining to obovale, 

 attenuated below, nearly erect, many-ribbed, quite glabrous, and mostly shining 

 as if varnished, bright green above, paler and whitish beneath, scarcely pointed ; 

 those on the stem bractiform, lanceolate, distant. Stem erect, from about 10 lo 

 15 or 20 inches in height, glabrous, pale green, solid, rounded, with several slen- 

 der, acute, augle-like ridges. Flowers in a lax, oUimg, obtuse, cylindrical spike 

 from about 4 to 6 or 8 inches in length, rather large, white, and delicately though 

 powerfully fragrant, especially in the evening, the scent like that of the Tuberose 

 {Polianthes tuberosa), or by others compared to orange-flowers. Floral bracts 

 longer than the ovary, lanceolate, erect. Sepals white, the 2 lateral spreading, 

 nearly seraiovate and subcordate at the base, somewhat acuminate, scarcely acute, 

 olten rounded at the tips, very obscurely nerved, waved or mostly deflexed at the 

 points ; superior sepal broadly cordate, obtuse, very faintly 5-nerved, undulate, 

 nearly erect, covering the superior petals, which are very small, sublinear, greenish, 

 erect and connivent, rather shorter than the sepal ; lip ligulate, about as long as 

 the ovary, the apex rounded, more or less recurved, greenish. Column (of the 

 anther) as long as the cells, greenish, truncate, concave in front, with a thick pro- 

 minent ridge or crust in the centre, that has a corresponding groove behind it; 

 anther-cells very widely diverging downwards; ;^oWra-ma.ssei buff-coloured, their 

 glands a thin circular disk. Stigma very broad, its nectariferous concavity nearly 

 semicircular or half-basin-shaped, its superior margin rising into a green tubercu- 

 lar prominence in the middle, its anterior and lateral margins produced on each 

 side into a rounded obtuse process bearing the base of the anther-cells: the base 

 of the stigma is perforated by a circular opening into the hollow spur, which is 

 slender, subclavate, compressed and almost pointed, more or less incurved, about 

 twice the length of the ovary, its upper part whitish, lower greenish and filled 

 with a saccharine fluid. Ovary green, slender, twisted, scarcely above half as long 

 as the spur. Capsule elliptic-oblong, erect, Jths of an inch in length. 



This, which is far more common with us than the following species, is known 

 from it by its generally greater height ; much larger and broader flowers, of a pure 

 white; thicker, more compressed and somewhat club-shaped spur; and especially 

 by the greater divergence of the cells of the anther, whose bases are so far apart 

 that, were the apex of each cell produced till they met, a nearly equilateral tri- 

 angle would be described by their union. The glands of the pollen-masses are 

 not fixed to the bottom of the cells in this species, but protrude at their lower 

 extremities, and, presenting a flat, circular and glutinous disk, are easily detached 

 from the anther on coming in contact with adjoining parts of the flower, to which 



3 q 



