44 
DIANDRIA. MONOGYNIA. Malaxis. 
Curt—E. Bot. 66—Lob. Ic. i. 179. 2—J.B. ii. 767— Ger. Em. 212.3— 
Park. 1350. 4— Pet. 69. 3— Flowers only, Vaill. 31. 15 and 16. 
Much resembling O. apifera. Stem and leaves shorter. Floral-leaves nar¬ 
rower. Flowers smaller. Petals, the three outer oval-spear-shaped, 
blunt, greenish, much shorter than the lip; the two inner strap-shaped, 
very short. Lip rolled in at the edges, not lobed, only slightly notched 
at the end, villous, except the spot towards the base, dusky, with 
greenish margins, green underneath. Woodw. It is from the breadth of 
the lip and its being marked with different shades of brown, that it de¬ 
rives its fancied resemblance to a spider. 
Spider Ophrys. (O. aranifera. Huds. Wild. Sm. O.fucifera. Curt. E.) 
Haller supposes his Orchis n. 1266. /3 to be O. apifera, and that in the 
more advanced state of its growth the middlemost segment turns back, 
and becomes this plant; but this segment is reflexed in O. apifera, even 
before the flower is fully expanded; not to mention that O. aranifera 
blossoms in May, and O. apifera usually not till July. Woodw. (Smith 
found Haller’s plant abundant in Italy, and is convinced it is a different 
species not yet discovered in Britain. E.) 
(Probably illustrative of the above is O. arachnites of Willd. Curt. Mag. t. 
2516. Hoffm. characterized in Eng. FI. as “"in general like O. apifera; 
lip of the flower essentially different, much broader and more dilated, 
nearly twice as long as the calyx; its margin thin, expanded, and directed 
forward, not reflexed ; the terminal lobe likewise thin and flat, pointing 
forward, more or less heart-shaped and notched, not awl-shaped and re¬ 
flexed ; disk of a duller brown.” The lip is admitted to vary, but the 
terminal segment deemed constant. Plentiful on the southern acclivities 
of the chalky downs near Folkstone; the upper half of the conical hill 
which forms the north-west boundary of the Cherry-garden near that 
town abounds with it. Mr. Gerard Smith. E.) P. July. 
Chalky meadows and pastures, as about Northfleet; and gravel pits, as 
one in the open field near Great Shelford, and near Bartlow, Cambridge¬ 
shire. In dry pastures about Barnham, near Tadcaster. Near Bury. 
Mr. Woodward. (On the Hills about Dover. Dillwyn. In an old stone-pit 
ground by Walcot, a mile from Barneck, Northamptonshire. Dr. Bowles. 
Westley Bottom, both Saxhams, Suffolk. Sir T. G. Cullum. Chalk pits 
near Leatherhead, Surry. Curtis. Bot. Guide. E.) P. April—May. 
(O. FuciFERA, considered by Smith a distinct species, is described in Eng. 
FI. as in size, habit, and general aspect of the flowers, resembling the 
last; also growing in similar situations. E.) 
MALAX'IS. # Nectary one leaf, heart-shaped, concave, in¬ 
closing the stamens and pistils. 
M. paludo'sa. Stalk pentagonal; leaves sheathing, battledore-shaped, 
(scabrous at the extremity; lip concave, acute. E.) 
{Hook. FI. Lond. 197. E.) E. Bot. 72— Rose 2. 3— -Kniph. 9. 
Bulbs egg-shaped,' (partly above ground. E.) bowed in, throwing out roots 
below, cohering downwards as a chain, with a small branch between 
them, slender, with rather numerous, scattered, greenish flowers, {lip 
much resembling the other segments of the perianth. Hook. Leaves two 
or three from the root, and near the base of the stem half an inch long. 
* (MaXtxxi?, softness; possibly alluding to the delicate texture and habit of these 
plants. E.) 
