524 O P II 
one fomewliat keeled. Stamina: filaments two, very 
fiiort, placed on the pifti] ; antherae eredl, covered with 
the inner margin of the neftary. Piftillum : germen ob- 
long, contorted, inferior; flyle faftened to the inner 
margin of the neflary ; Itigma obfolete. Pericarpium: 
caplule fubovate, three-cornered, blunt, ftriated, three- 
valved, one-celled, opening at the keeled angles. Seeds : 
numerous, like faw-duft ; receptacle linear, faftened to 
each valve of the pericarpium .—Effential CharaSter. Nec¬ 
tary Somewhat keeled underneath. 
Thefe plants are of the fame natural genus with the 
Orchis, and all the older botanical writers confounded 
them. Linnaeus diftinguifhed this natural order into ge¬ 
nera from the nettariitm, as he calls it; which, in Orchis, 
forms a horn or fpur at the back of the flower, whereas 
the lip of it, in this, is a petal hanging down, with a ridge 
or keel running along the back. There are thirty-four 
fpecies, in two divifions. 
I. With branched bulbs. 
i. Ophrys nidus avis, or bird’s-r.eft ophrys: bulbs in 
bundles of fibres ; ftem flieathed, leafiefs ; lip of the nec¬ 
tary bifid. The root is compofed of a thick bundle of 
ftrong flefiiy fibres, from vvliich arife two oval veined 
leaves, three inches long and two broad, joined at their 
bafe. Between thefe fprings up a naked ftalk, from twelve 
to fifteen inches high, thickeft at the bafe, firm, and re¬ 
maining long after the feeds are fired; without leaves, 
but clothed with numerous embracing dry fcales. Spike 
of flowers four or five inches long, cylindrical; the flowers 
at the bafe of the fpike rather fcattered, upwards crowded. 
Bra&es fhorter than the germen, acutely lanceolate. Pe¬ 
tals clofely converging, oval ; lip of the neftarium long, 
at firft linear, but divided at the bale into blunt divari¬ 
cated lobes. Stamens inferted in two cavities in the up¬ 
per lip of the neftarium ; antherae yellow. Capfule on a 
triangular fruit-ftalk, having a prominent rib at each an¬ 
gle, and one on each fide, with intermediate furrow's. 
The whole plant is brown, and clofely conne6led in habit 
with Orobanche, Lathraea, and Monotropa. Native of 
feveral parts of Europe, as Sweden, Denmark, Britain, 
Germany, France, Auftria, Swiflerland, Italy, in woods 
and fhady places. With us, about Charlton, Gravefend, 
Maidftone, and Roehill, in Kent; Selborne in Hamp- 
fhire by Mr. White; Madingly-wood in Cambridgefhire ; 
Aldborough in Suffolk by Ray; Heydon in Norfolk; 
near Ingleton, and in Offley-park ; Buckham-wood in 
Cumberland ; near Kendal in Weftmoreland. Not un¬ 
common about Newton Cartmel ; found there by Mr. 
Hall, who obferves, that the woods, in the part of Lan- 
cafhire where he lives, are cut down every fifteen years ; 
that, for fix or eight years after they are cut, this plant 
is not to be found ; but, as focn as the grades are chiefly 
deftroyed by the fliade, it again makes its appearance, and 
in fome places is pretty plentiful. Mr. Blackftone ob- 
ferved it in White-Heath-wood by Harefield. It is 
alfo found in fome woods in Scotland, but not common. 
It flowers in May and June. The name of bird's-nejl is 
derived from the matting and twilling of the fibrous roots. 
See the annexed Plate I. 
i. Ophrys corallorhiza, or coral-rooted ophrys : bulbs 
branched, flexuofe; ftem flieathed, leafiefs; lip of the 
nedtary trifid. The root confifts of thick white fucculent 
obtufe fibres, branched like coral. Stem fix or eight 
inches high, without any other leaves except fheathing 
ftipules. Flowers in a thin fpike, eight or ten in number, 
verging a little to one fide of the ftalk, and fubtended 
each by an oval-lanceolate greenilh bradle. Upper petals 
green, oval-lanceolate, converging in form of a femi- 
cylindric helmet; lateral petals patent, whitifh, ftreaked 
with a green line; lip oval-lanceolate, white ftreaked with 
two green lines, forming an acute angle. Stamens four, 
two in each cell. On account of the difference of ftruc- 
ture in the ftamens from the other Orchideae, Scopoli has 
made this a diltindt genus, under its old name of Coral- 
11 Y S. 
lorhiza. Native of the northern parts’of Europe; alfo 
of Swiflerland, Carniola, and the fouth of France. Li 
Great Britain it is found fparingly in woods of fir in the 
north of Scotland ; Mr. Lightfoot obferved it only in a 
moift hanging wood, near the head of Little Loch Broom, 
on the weftern coaft of Rofsfhire. It flowers in Auguil 
and September : Scopoli found it in flower on the fecond 
of Odlober. Gerard calls it little lungwort. 
3. Ophrys fpiralis, fpiral ophrys, or triple ladies’ traces: 
bulbs aggregate, oblong; ftem fomewhat leafy; flowers 
in a fpiral, directed one way ; lip of the ivedlary undi¬ 
vided, crenulate. Bulbs one to three, or fometimes four, 
varying from oblong and half an inch in length, to cylin¬ 
drical and an inch and a half long, rough or villofe, 
pointed, and furnifhed with a few fibres. Stem from fix 
to nine inches high, the lower part fmooth, the upper 
downy, Root-leaves four, or more, forming a luft, ovate- 
lanceolate, fmooth, entire at the margins, bright green, 
half an inch in breadth, dotted when magnified, and 
faintly ribbed. By the fide of thefe, and not from amonglt 
them, arifes the ftem, clothed with three or four lanceo¬ 
late, acuminate, embracing, leaves, downy, and membra¬ 
nous at the edge. Spike from two to four inches long, 
twilled in a fpiral form, with numerous (fifteen or more) 
flowers, growing from one fide, and following its fpiral 
diredlion ; corolla greenifli white, fragrant; the three 
outer petals converging, glued together; the two inner 
patent, lanceolate ; lip of the nedlarium at firft narrow, 
widened at the bafe, round ifh and ferrate. Native of fe¬ 
veral parts of Europe; as Denmark, England, France, 
Germany, Auftria, Swiflerland, and Italy; flowering 
from Auguft to Odlober. With us it is found on Ha\- 
well-heath near Ifleworth, and on Enfield-chafe in Mid- 
dlefex ; Barn Elms in Surrey ; Dartford in Kent; on the 
Hill of Health between Cambridge and Madingly, and by 
Hinton andTaverfham Moors in Cambridgefhire; on the 
fouth fide of Shotover-hill in Oxfordfhire ; on the Fern 
in Little Marlow, Buckinghamfhire; Warckton in North- 
amptonfhire; near Buddon-wood, Leicefterfhire; Ealt 
Leke in Nottinghamfhire; near Leeds in Yorkfhire ; in. 
the limeflone-paftures about Newton Cartmel ; and not 
uncommon in the northern counties ; on the road from 
Truro to Redruth in Cornwall ; under the rocks at 
Pinney cliffs, near Lyme. It grows in paftures both dry 
and moift, not only in a calcareous foil, but in dry fand, 
barren clay, dry elevated paftures, rocky funny expofures, 
good foil, boggy commons, &c. and is not fo much rare 
as overlooked. Mr. Curtis remarks, that it grows more 
readily in a garden than moft of its tribe; and that the 
protuberant gennens, placed regularly one above another, 
iomewhat relemble plaited hair, whence, perhaps, its name 
of Indies' truces. If fo, it fhould be ladies' treffes. Johnfon, 
in Gerard, remarks, that “ the top of the ltalk, whereon 
the flowers do grow, is commonly as it were twifled or 
writhen aboutwhich circum fiance Linns us has adopted 
for a fpecific character. But writhed is erro-neoufly fpelt 
wreathed by fome modern writers. There are four varie¬ 
ties of this fpecies. 
4. Ophrys cernua, or nodding ophrys: bulbs in bun¬ 
dles ; Item leafy ; flowers drooping; lip of the nedlary 
oblong, entire, acute. The root confifts of very many 
thick fibres. Root-leaves linear, long; item-leaves fheath¬ 
ing, very fliort. Native of Virginia and Canada. 
5. Ophrys ovata, common ophrys, or twaybiade: bulb 
fibrous; ftem two-leaved; leaves ovate; lip of the nec¬ 
tary bifid. Root perennial, confiding, like the nidus 
avis, of numerous thick flefhy bundled fibres, and re¬ 
newed every year in the fame manner as the bulbs of the 
Orchides. Stem from twelve to eighteen inches, and 
even two feet, in height: below the leaves much thicker 
than above, and naked ; above the leaves downy ; the 
lower part of the ftem immediately above the root is 
clothed with a membranaceous fpathe of two or three 
leaves ; about one-third of the height of the ftem (Haller, 
and after him Lightfoot, lays one-half, but it is never fo 
much) 
