THE ORCHID WORLD. 



SOME SWISS ORCHIDS. 



By W. HERBERT COX. 



JUNE IS the month for Swiss wild flowers, 

 so in June the Orchids of that country 

 are at their best. As the snows melt 

 mere so late the plants do not appear until 

 later than elsewhere and then come altogether 

 with a rush, the flowers of Spring with the 

 flowers of Summer meeting in June and form- 

 ing a glorious array. Plants which blossom 

 with us in England at far distant seasons may 

 be found on the same day, though higher in 

 the mountains ; for instemce, the Early Purple 

 (Orchis mascula) our first kind in perfection in 

 April, and the Alarsh (Epipactis palustris) 

 seldom seen at home until July. There are 

 but few people to see them however, for 

 tourists do not visit Switzerland before July. 



Of all the .Swiss Cantons the Bernese 

 Oberlajid is, in my experience, the richest in 

 Orchids ; the other Cantons have memy but 

 Berne has most, both in numbers and variety, 

 Orchids of the highlands and Orchids of the 

 vales. Perhaps it is because they grow in 

 spots too remote for the tourist to disturb 

 them. Yet even in the neighbourhood of the 

 large towns many Orchids may be found. 

 Around Interlaken, for example, is a rich 

 locality. Less than a mile from the town, 

 between the lakes of Thun and Brienz, there 

 is a piece of marshy ground upon which many 

 kinds grow luxuriantly. Great masses of 

 sprays of the beautiful terra cotta, pale lipped 

 flowers of Epipactis palustris, give quite a 

 distinctive character to the field ; contrasting 

 well with them are countless plants of long- 

 tailed white Butterflies (Platanthera bifolia) 

 and the common, almost everywhere, Spotted 

 Palmate (Orchis maculata) in varying shades 

 of lilac. Besides these three typical marsh- 

 land kinds, other less expected things may be 

 seen in the sphagnum as the Dwarf (Orchis 

 ustulata) and the sweet-scented Gnat (Gymn- 

 adenia conopsea) both usually found on the 

 driest and barest hill-sides. The former 

 always looks as though it had been scorched 

 by the heat of the sun's rays, but is a 

 charming little thing for all that. The 

 Twayblade (Listera ovata) also grows there ; 



it IS a typical woodland plant, but catholic m 

 its taste, and may occasionally be found in 

 both damp and dry open places. Quite near, 

 too, in the woods of Darlingen, grows the 

 lovely Cephalanthcra rubra, which the Ger- 

 mans call by the exceedingly poetic name of 

 " the little red forest bird." It is a somewhat 

 rare plant, the spray of four or five large red 

 flowers being borne well above the sword 

 shaped leaves. For a companion it has the 

 deep purple, tight cluster of Epipactis atro- 

 rubens, small leaved with a purple stem. 

 Orchids have an artistic way of growing in 

 pairs so that each makes an excellent foil for 

 the other. This plant also grows further 

 along Lake Thun on the bare chalk cuttings 

 at Oberhofen. The now rare, but formerly 

 quite common. Lady's Slipper (Cypripedium 

 calceolus), the largest of the European kinds, 

 is said to grow in this locality, but I have 

 never been lucky enough to find it. 



Near the end of the Lauterbrunnen valley, 

 after leaving Trachsellauenen by the ' Berg- 

 werk," two almost inseparable companions 

 blossom together, the dainty heart-leaved 

 Twayblade growing in the fissures between 

 damp rocks, in such places as one might 

 expect to find a filmy fern, and the Coral 

 Root (Corallorhiza innata) happy in the black 

 soil made by the falling needles of the Christ- 

 mas trees. It seems to be but a little knotted, 

 gnarled branch of coral, the root, a stem, 

 some bracts and a few yellowish spotted 

 flowers, no leaves, no, nothing more at all. 

 This plant was formerly believed to be a para- 

 site, but that has since been disproved, and I 

 think my own experience helps that, for near 

 there, by the wonderful Schmadribach water- 

 fall, I came across a plant flowering on a bare 

 lump of stone in some pine needle humus 

 which had collected in a groove. The same 

 two Orchids grow together in almost all the 

 woods around Ober Steinberg, and also under 

 the trees on the cliffs around the much 

 admired Oeschinen See, many miles away. 

 Near the waterfall, too, is said to grow the 

 very rare saprophyte Epipogium aphyllum. 



