NATURE NOTES IN TOURAINE 
203 
The seasons must have changed, or Shakespeare have mis- 
taken his calendar, for in the mild climate of Touraine it is 
not “the winds of March” but rather those of April that the 
daffodils “ make wild with beauty.” Growing in the meadows 
kissed with the fertile breath of spring, among the cowslips and 
the marsh marigolds, they add yet another shade to the yellows 
of these riverside fields, whose golden monotony is only broken 
by the purple-white patches of the cuckoo-flower [Carciamiite pra- 
tensis). France has always been famous for marsh marigolds, 
“ the winking marybuds,” and their bright golden flowers fill 
every damp hollow in the spring, before the buttercups and 
other summer flowers gild the meadowland. 
The lover of orchids will find much that will delight his 
heart in Touraine. In April, Orchis mascula shows its first 
purple spikes, the earliest of the summer flowers : this is 
succeeded by O. Morio, and a fortnight or three weeks later 
brings many surprises. There are high banks, almost cliffs, 
the light calcareous soil of wliich was hollowed out long ago by 
the action of water. By the falling of debris and the action 
of time they have become fertile steep slopes which catch the 
first rays of the sun. There, as early as the first week in May, 
the spikes of Orchis Simia may be found. A little later they are 
common enough, and merit their name “ Monkey orchis,” in 
their grotesque resemblance to that animal. It is true that 
some imagination is at first needed to see the likeness, but 
when once seen it is unmistakable. Almost at the same time 
and place as O. Simia, one may find the first “ Pentecotes ” — 
Pentecosts — as the natives call them, from their habit of 
flowering about Whitsuntide. These handsome flowers, known 
to botanists as Orchis purpurea and O. Simia purpurea — rustic 
flower-lore knows no scientific niceties — though not too common, 
are fairly plentiful in the district, and excite admiration by their 
beautiful compact spikes, sometimes as much as 8 in. long. 
They are succeeded by Ophrys aranifera, which is really very 
abundant about Tours. This summer, although everything was 
rather late, produced specimens as early as May 9, and a few 
late lingerers were to be found in July. Orchis ustulata is 
apparently of rare occurrence in the district, although some 
specimens were found as early as the first week in May. He 
who delights in rare orchids, however, may find much joy in 
the abundant presence of the Lizard orchid. It is an un- 
pleasant plant to gather, as its botanical name, Orchis hirciua, 
suggests. The peasants call it Torchidee des bones — the goat’s 
orchid — which is accurate it not polite, and the writer can from 
personal experience warn anyone not to keep specimens of this 
plant in their room at night. But all orchids have not this 
unpleasant peculiarity, for many a summer’s evening at the 
borders of the woods is made sweet by the fragrance of the 
butterfly orchid, Habenaria bifolia, which grows in every clearing 
of the woodland. 
