1 64 WILD FLOWERS OF THE BRITISH ISLES 
masses are each attached to a separate gland, both glands being contained in the pouch of the 
rostellum. [As described in the genus Orchis.] The stem is 8 inches to 2 feet high, and the 
leaves are lance-shaped, blunt, and usually with purple-black spots ; the tubers are undivided. 
[Plate 53. 
Common. In pastures, woods, and shady places ; universally distributed throughout the British 
Isles. April — June. Perennial. 
9. Lax-flowered Orchid. (Or chis laxiflora. Lamarck.) — A very similar species to the 
Early Purple Orchid (Orchis mascula), but with larger rich red flowers, in a looser cluster ; much 
broader 3-5-veined bracts ; all the perianth-lobes spreading away from the column ; and the leaves 
narrow and not spotted. 
Very rare. In wet meadows and marshy places. Only found in the Channel Isles and on 
ballast heaps at Hartlepool. May — June. Perennial. 
10. Crimson Marsh-Orchid. (Orchis incarn&ta. Linn.) — Flowers numerous, dark 
rose-colour or pale purple, spotted and streaked with a darker shade, in a dense oblong tapering 
spike, 2^-9 inches long; the bracts 3-veined, usually longer than all the flowers, but sometimes 
shorter than the upper ones ; the 3 upper perianth-lobes not hooded but arching over the column, 
the 2 side ones erect, and the lip 3-lobed, the middle lobe small and a little longer than the side 
lobes, with a broad thick spur nearly as long as the seedcase ; the 2 stalked pollen-masses attached 
each to a separate gland, both contained in the pouch of the rostellum. [As described in the 
genus Orchis.] The stem 9 inches or more high, hollow, and leafy ; the leaves erect, narrow, 
lance-shaped, hooded at the top, and with a broad base, usually not spotted ; tubers divided into 
2 or 3 finger-like lobes. ( Under Orchis latifolia. Benth. and Hook.) [Plate 53. 
Common. In marshes and wet meadows, generally distributed, especially in the south of England. 
June. Perennial. 
11. Spotted Orchid. (Or chis macul&ta. Linn.) — Flowers pale lilac or white, spotted 
and lined with darker purple, in a dense oblong tapering spike ; the bracts 3-veined, usually a little 
shorter than the flowers or the same length ; the 2 side perianth-lobes turned back, the 3 upper 
not hooded but arching over the column, and the lip deeply 3-lobed, the central lobe longer and 
narrower than the side ones, and the spur shorter than the seedcase ; the 2 stalked pollen-masses 
each attached to a separate gland, both glands being contained in the pouch of the rostellum. 
[As described in the genus Orchis.] The stem is usually about a foot high, solid, and slender ; 
the leaves are spreading, usually spotted with purplish-black ; the lower ones are oval and larger 
and gradually taper up the stem into smaller, pointed, lance-shaped ones ; the tubers are divided 
into finger-like lobes. [Plate 53. 
Common. Meadows, pastures, and moist commons ; generally distributed throughout England, 
Scotland, and Ireland. May — June. Perennial. 
12 . Or'chis epicet6pum. Linton. — A plant by some regarded merely as a variety of 
the preceding species, from which it differs in having a shorter and more pyramidal spike of 
flowers, 1-2 inches long, and in the corolla-lip being much more unequally lobed, the central 
lobe being much smaller and usually shorter than the broad side ones and in the whole plant 
being more slender, the leaves narrower, and all pointed, and with the margins more or less 
curved back. 
Not uncommon. In meadows and pastures; in England, Scotland, and Ireland. Very probably 
often passed over as the Spotted Orchid (O. maculata). June — July. Perennial. 
13 . Broad-leaved Mapsh-Opchid. (Or chis latifdlia. Linn.) — A very similar species 
to the Spotted Orchid (Orchis maculata), but having purplish-rose flowers with a thick blunt spur, 
