A3 <5 [ n o ]
O R C H I S pyramidalis.
Pyramidal Orchis.
G T N A N D R I A Diandria.
G en. Char. Nettary a fpur behind the flower.
Spec. Char. Bulbs undivided. Lip of the nedtary in
three equal fegments, entire, with two protuberances,
the horn long. Petals ovato-lanceolate.
Syn . Orchis pyramidalis. Linn. Sp. PL 1332. HudJ.
FI. An. 382. With. Bot. Arr. 969. Relh. Cant. 332.
O. purpurea fpica congefta pyramidali. Raii Syn. 377.
tab. 18.
G r o w s in meadows and paftures in a calcareous foil,
more efpecially on chalky downs, flowering later than molt
others of the Orchis tribe, feldom before July. The whole herb
is, as Dr. Stokes remarks, of a filky glofiinefs, and of an
unfpotted palifh green. Spike denfe, the buds ereft; but as
they open, the lowermoft firft, the flowers Hand out horizontally,
giving the fpike a pyramidal form, which it lofes again
when all the flowers are expanded. The eflential character of
this fpecies confifts in two protuberances in the front of its lip
near the bafe. Our figure reprefents the plant as it occurs in
meadows; in chalk-pits and dry barren places it is fmaller, the
buds of a more deep blood-colour, and the fpike more denfe.
The flowers are rarely found white. When drawn up in woods
or among bufhes, every part is more flender, ftraggling, and
pale than in the prefent fpecitnen.