54 



WEEDS. 



the calyx. Nectary, a spreading lip, with a tubular spur be- 

 hind. Stamina : anther large, oblong, erect, attach'ed in a 

 parallel manner to the summit of the style ; of two cells, open- 

 ing in front ; the masses of pollen club-shaped, attaching 

 themselves each by its taper base to one or two glands by 

 the stigma, in one and the same pouch ; style columnar, 

 short ; stigma below the anther, convex, oblique. Pericarp : 

 capsule oblong, with three ribs ; of one cell, and three 

 valves, splitting by three lateral fissures. Seeds numerous, 

 minute, each with a chalfy tunic. 



Essential character. — Upper leaf of the calyx vaulted. 

 Lip of the nectary, with a posterior spur. Anther terminal, 

 parallel. Masses of pollen stalked, their bases approximated 

 within a simple pouch. 



The " Orchis " is a very extensive genus, containing fifty- 

 two species, in five divisions. The most common in Britain, 

 in damp shady meadows, are the Orchis pyramidahs," and 

 the ^' Orchis maculata," or the spotted " Orchis." The former 

 has the bulbs undivided ; lip of the nectary two-horned, trifid, 

 equal, quite entire ,* horn long. Petals sub-lanceolate. Bulbs 

 ovate. Stem, from eight to fifteen inches high, round, or 

 slightly angular, smooth and firm, almost covered with leaves. 

 Flowers numerous, about eighty, crowded in a short blunt 

 cone, forming a most elegant termination to the stem ; deep 

 flesh colour, or pale purple. The leaves are linear lanceolate, 

 and of a silky glossiness, and the bulging protuberances on 

 the Hp of the nectary give a very distinguishing character to 

 this species. Flowers in June and July. 



The " Orchis maculata," or the spotted " Orchis," has the 

 bulbs pulmate, spreading ; horn of the nectary shorter than 

 the germen ; lip flat ; dorsal petals erect. Bulbs palmated, 

 compressed, with the segments much divaricated. Stem 

 solid, from eight to eighteen inches high; the lower part 

 round, the upper somewhat angular. Lower leaves embracing 

 the stem ; lowest constantly short, broad and blunt ; the next 

 considerably longer, bluntly lanceolate, above these, more 

 acutely lanceolate ; upper ones very narrow, and apparently 

 sessile, but the margins are decurrent, whence the angular 



