806 



THE ORCHID FAMILY. 



1. Bog Malaxis. Malaxis paludosa, Sw. (Fig. 968.) 



(Opkrys, Eng. Bot. t. 72.) 



A delicate plant, of 3 or 4 inches in 

 height, the rootstock producing a small 

 solid bulb out of the ground like many 

 exotic epiphytes, and 3 or 4 ovate or ob- 

 long radical leaves. Flowers very small, 

 of a greenish yellow, in a loose, slender 

 raceme. Sepals ovate or broadly lan- 

 ceolate, about a line long, two of them 

 erect, the third turned down ; pedicels 

 similar, but not half the size, and spread- 

 ing laterally. Lip erect, shorter than 

 the sepals, but longer than the petals, 

 ovate, concave at the base, where it em- 

 braces the very short column. 



In spongy bogs, in northern Europe 

 and Hussian Asia, from the north of 

 France to the Arctic regions, and in 

 some mountain-districts in central Eu- 

 rope. Spread over the greater part of Britain, but very sparingly, 

 and always difficult to find. FL summer, rather late. 





Fig. 968. 



II. IiIPARIS. LIPARIS. 



Delicate herbs, with radical leaves, and small, greenish-yellow flowers, 

 m a terminal raceme. Sepals and petals nearly alike. Lip much 

 broader, erect or spreading and entire. Column erect or curved, with 

 a lid-like terminal anther ; the 2 pairs of pollen-masses attached by 

 their summits, but spreading laterally into the 2 anther-cells. 



Besides the European species, the genus contains a considerable 

 number from the warmer regions of both the new and the old world, 

 several of them true epiphytes. 



1. Two-leaved Liparis. Liparis Loeselii, Eich. (Fig. 969.) 



(OpJirys, Eng. Bot. t. 47. Sturmia, Bab. Man.) 



The stock forms a small bulb for the following year by the side of 

 the stem. Leaves 2, about half the length of the stem, narrow-oblong . 



