162 The Orchis Tribe. 



of Orchis, that they prepare their favorite drink of salop, which is 

 made palatable by the addition of milk and ginger. This beve- 

 rage is drunk hot. The florists have not proved more negligent 

 in cultivating these curious plants than the botanists have been 

 anxious to collect the different species of them from all quarters 

 of the known world, and from their exertions we now possess 

 eighty distinct species, besides numerous varieties of several of 

 the kinds. 



We cannot pass over the natural tribes without recommending 

 them to the notice of all true admirers of flowers. The idea that 

 they will not bear cultivation is as foolish as the old story of their 

 springing from the blackbird and thrush. Several species have 

 been transplanted with success, and the early varieties never 

 fail to draw attention by the beauty of their spotted foliage and 

 the riches of their purple and lilac colors. The plants are gene- 

 rally collected as soon as they have appeared above the ground, 

 taking them up with as much earth as possible about their roots, 

 and planting them in the garden in a similar soil to that from 

 which they were taken, and where they have often remained for 

 several years without the ground being disturbed, and been 

 found stronger lhan in their natural situations. Phillips, in the 

 year 1812, planted many of these bulbs under some trees, on a 

 small bank in a garden, and in 1816 several young plants were 

 found growing in a turf plot adjoining, which must evidently 

 have sprung from the seeds of those planted on the bank ; they 

 were of the moris, musculo, and ustulata kinds. It would be 

 more desirable to collect the bulbs in the summer, which might 

 be easily done by placing a small stick in the earth, on the north 

 side of the plant when in flower, and to take them up in July 

 and October, before the foliage be entirely decayed. The 

 Ophrys are far less common than the Orchis, but these are most 

 frequently found in chalky soils, that are kept moist by the par- 

 tial shade of coppice wood. It germinates by seed. That it does 

 not increase by a viviparous nature, like many other bulbs, seems 

 pretty certain, by our not finding any of these plants growing in 

 clusters like the crocus, snowdrop, tulip, or hyacinth. Like the 

 meadow Orchis, it has two distinct bulbs, united at ihe top, one 

 of whiclf only sends up a stem : and during the season that this 

 bulb is nourishing the flowers and seeds, it becomes shrunk 

 and shrivelled, but the dormant bulb swells and increases in 



