490 OECHIDACE^. [Cephalanthera. 



which is pui'plish and nectariferous within ; its terminal division or lobe pinkish, 

 broadly cordate, deflexed, shorter than the lateral sepals, entire, scarcely acute, 

 the apex slightly reflexed, the disk traversed above by a thick, greenish, somewhat 

 rugose keel, expanding backwards at the base of the lobe into a cordate, triangu- 

 lar or 2-lobed, very uneven palate or prominence. Stigma vehite, its anterior face 

 nearly plane and rectangular, nectariferous, the upper edge bearing a small por- 

 rected gland, secreting a frothy globule of an extremely viscid milky fluid ;* pos- 

 terior part horizontal, concave, the concavity bounded at the back by a curved 

 margin, ending in either side in a blunt projection, the central portion of the 

 margin thickened behind and bearing the yellowish, sessile, incumbent anther, the 

 cells of which are closely contiguous ; poLlen-masses whitish yellow, obpyriform, 

 without stalks or glands, but cohering together at their bases by an elastic fila- 

 ment. German glabrous or slightly downy, obovoid-oblong or pyriform, with 6 

 stout blunt ribs, its twisted base attenuated into a short decurved pedicel. Cap- 

 sule nodding or drooping. 



2. E.^JatetJ-is, Sw. Marsh Helleborine. " Leaves lanceolate, 

 bracteas mostly shorter than the slightly drooping flowers, upper 

 lobe of the lip roundish-oval or obovate broadest at or above the 

 middle undulato-crenate very obtuse or retuse with 2 crests at the 

 base longer than the sepals." — jBr. Fl. p. 416. Serapias, Scop. : 

 E. B. t. 270. S. longifolia, Z. 



In marshy or boggy meadows and pastures on a chalky or gravelly soil, also ou 

 wet banks of slipped clay along the coast; not uncommon. FL June — August. 

 Fr. August, September. 2^. 



E.Med. — Shore about Chine Head (Luccombe), and various places in the 

 landslip between Luccombe and Bonchurch. Landslip at Bonchurch, S. Hail- 

 stone, jun., Esq. 



W. Med. — Very plentiful on the banks of slipped land in Colwell hay, with Gym- 

 nadenia conopsea, and at the upper end of Colwell heath. Marshy meadows at 

 Easton, frequent. Abundant in the half-dried-up clay-pits near Cronmore farm, 

 in which Sparganium uatans and Typha angustifolia grow, 1844. Marsh near 

 Compton, B. T. W. 



IX. Cephalanthera, Pdch. White Helleborine. 



" Perianth converging, lip interrupted, the basal division sac- 

 cate, jointed to the recurved terminal one: stigma transverse, 

 rostellum ; anther terminal, erect, moveable, shortly and thickly 

 stalked, 2-celled ; cells with imperfect septa ; column elongated ; 

 germen sessile, twisted." — Bab. Man. 



1. C. grandiflora, Bab. Large-flowered White Helleborine. 

 Leaves ovato-elliptical to eUiptic-lanceolate, bracts longer than 



* This viscid fluid, which is quite distinct from the nectariferous secretion of 

 the disk, has for its object the extension of the pollen-masses on falling forwards 

 on the posterior hollow of the stigma, and which, being destitute of the adhesive 

 glands common to other genera of this natural order, could scarcely, without such 

 a provision, be retained long enough on the organ to eifect the purpose of fertiliz- 

 ing the latter. In the present genus the form of the anther-cells and pollen- 

 masses is reversed, the smaller end of both being uppermost; in this inverted 

 position the usual appendages of stalks and glands could serve no other purpose 

 than to keep the pollen-masses suspended over, but not in contact with, the stigma, 

 as by the above simple contrivance they most effectually are. 



