TTOnr:
2596
O P H R Y S arachnites.
Late Spider Orchis.
Gen. Char. Cal. spreading. Nectary without a spur,
convex.
Spec. Char. Lip longer than the coloured calyx,
projecting from its base a flattened, glandular,
lobe. Petals deltoid, downy.
Syn. Ophrys arachnites. Sm. Engl. FI. v. 4. 273.
Willd. Sp. PI. v. 4. 67. Curt. Mag. t. 2516.
O. insectifera q. Linn. Sp. PI. 1343.
Orchis n. 1266. Hall. Hist. v. 2. 134. t. 24. f . 1.
O. araneam referens. Vaill. Bot. Par. t. 30.
ƒ. 10—13.
O. arachnites. Scop. Cam. v. 2. 194.—&c. &c.
T h i s Ophrys first appeared as a British plant in the
Appendix to the 4th volume of English Flora, being then
discovered upon the chalk downs of South Kent, between
Folkstone and Sittingbourne, in various places. It flowers
with O. apifera in May and June.
The general character of this species resembling that of
O. apifera, with which, and probably with O.fucifera (English
Flora, v. 4. n. 414. 4.), it forms frequent hybrids, the
essential distinctions are to be sought in the position of the
lobe at the base of the nectary lip, which is never recurved;
in the more or less deltoid form of the purplish or green
petals; in the more blunt and short, as well as paler, calyx-
leaves; and in the proportion borne to them by the lip, which
is either equal or longer, and which presents, in the true
plant, a nearly entire margin, and a more obvious shade of
green in the various lines and spots upon its dull or intense
brown disk.
The recurved terminal segment in O. apifera is awl-shaped,
and much less fleshy: in our plant this lobe is frequently