4 



THE ORCHID WORLD. 



ITALIAN ORCHIDS 



By W. HERBERT COX. 



AMONG all that host of flowers which 

 blossom in the Italian fields in the 

 Spring, the most beautiful, certaml)- 

 the most fantastic, are the numerous examples 

 of the Orchid family. In mid-May they are 

 to be seen everywhere in their thousands. 

 From earliest spring — almost winter by the 

 ::oast — some kind may 

 be found, and they 

 go on well into the 

 autumn. In the north, 

 however, May sees 

 them at their very best. 

 On the hills surround- 

 ing Florence, the 

 towers of which gleam 

 in the sunlight with the 

 silvery thread of the 

 Arno flowing between, 

 they flourish exceed- 

 ingly. 



The Castello di 

 Poorgio, a real castle 

 stronghold, probably 

 formerly occupied b} 

 some robber chief, 

 judg-ing from its ap- 

 pearance, stands high 

 on those hills and looks 

 down into the great 

 valley below. It is 

 surrounded by tower- 

 ing black Cupressus, 

 miles of fresh green 

 scrub Oaks and patches 

 of heathery land on 



which golden Broom and pink and white 

 Cytisus (monspessulanus and albidus) are all 

 ablaze. The three kinds of vegetation give 

 rise to a great variety of flowers, the Orchids 

 taking so full an advantage of it that within 

 a few hundred yards of the Castello as many 

 as thirty varieties may be found without the 

 least trouble. 



The first to appear here is the Spider 

 (Ophrys aranifera) in early April, dull, brown 

 bodies just like the creatures after which they 



Ligunans 

 bird 



Ophrys Berlclonii. 



The Bird and the Lool(ing-giass Orchid, 



are named. They come in various relays, 

 old bulbs and seedlings, so that the flowering 

 season is continued for quite a long time. 

 The late Spider (O. arachnites), which is not 

 found mitil May, has pink petals with a 

 blueish streak, and a protruding appendix. 

 The Bee (O. apifera), still later, has rosy 

 flowerets on which a 

 bee seems to be sitting, 

 sucking honey. Two 

 other varieties of 

 Ophrys are found 

 there, O. Bertolonii, 

 which the 

 call " the little 

 looking at itself in a 

 mirror," w h i c h it 

 certainly does suggest, 

 and the dingy O. 

 funera, believed to be 

 a variety of O. fusca. 



Orchis is a very 

 large class, varying 

 much in colour, size, 

 and appearance. The 

 Meadow (Orchis morio) 

 and the Orchid of 

 Province (O. provin- 

 cialis) form large drifts, 

 the purple of the 

 former mingling beau- 

 tifully with the soft 

 primrose of the latter. 

 A lordl;^ plant is O. 

 fusca, standing up 

 boldly from its big, 

 glossy leaves, its head in a brown helmet, and 

 a mulberry-coloured tongue hanging down. 

 The Monkey (O. Simla) has an unusual knack 

 of opening at the top of the stem its flowers 

 with their thin twisted arms and legs, but it 

 is rather rare here. The Plume of Feathers 

 (O. tridentata) is a pretty lilac flowered kind. 

 The claret flowers of the thin leaved O. 

 laxiflora look well in the damp, sphagnum 

 grown spots. Neither of the common purple 

 kinds, known as O. maculata and O. mascula, 



