828 



THE ORCHID FAMILY. 



England 



3, oblong or lanceolate, radical leaves. 

 Tubers nearly globular, like those of an 

 Orchis, but the new one, instead of being 

 produced close to the stem, is formed at 

 the end of one of the fibres proceeding 

 from the crown, thus forming a creep- 

 ing rootstock. Spike slender, with nu- 

 merous, small, yellowish-green flowers. 

 Sepals erect or scarcely spreading, and 

 narrow. Petals narrower and rather 

 longer, instead of being shorter as in 

 most British Orchids, Lip scarcely 

 longer, erect, hollowed into a kind of 

 pouch at the base, but not spurred, with 

 3 narrow, entire lobes. 



In hilly pastures, in central, northern, 

 and Arctic Europe and Russian Asia, 

 and in the mountains of southern Eu- 

 rope. Very local in Britain, chiefly in 

 the southern and eastern counties of 

 and unknown in Scotland or Ireland. Fl. summer. 



Fig. 998. 



XV. OPHEYS, OPHEYS. 



Habit, tubers, and foliage of an Orchis, but the flowers have no spur, 

 and the lip is usually very convex, resembling more or less the body of 

 an insect. Anther-cells distant at the base, protruding below the rest 

 of the anther in 2 distinct little pouches enclosing the glands of the 

 pollen-masses. 



A small genus, chiefly from the Mediterranean region, with a very 

 few species spreading into central Europe. The forms assumed by the 

 lip and its markings are so very variable that the accurate distinction 

 of species, especially of the southern ones, is a matter of great doubt 

 and difficulty. 



Lip of the perianth as broad as long or nearly so, and scarcely 

 longer than the sepals. 



End lobe of the lip much turned under. Sepals usually pink 1. Bee O. 



Lip slightly lobed, the edges scarcely turned under. Sepals 



green 2. Spider 0. 



Lip of the perianth oblong, considerably longer than the sepals 3. Fly O. 



1. Bee Ophrys. Ophrys apifera, Huds. (Fig. 999.) 



(Eng. Bot. t. 383. O. arachnites, Suppl. t. 2596.) 



Tubers entire. Stem 9 to 18 incheshigh, with a few oblong or lanceolate 



