/ 3 a
[ 2059 ]
O R CHI S Morio.
Green-wmged Meadow Orchis.
GYNANDRIA Monandria.
G en. C har. Nectary a spur behind the flower. Anther
parallel to the style.
S pe c. C h a r . Bulbs undivided. Lip of the nectary
four-cleft, somewhat crenate; spur obtuse, ascending.
Outer petals cohering, many-ribbed.
Syn . Orchis Morio. Linn. Sp. PL 1333. Sm. FL Brit.
920. Swartz. Orchid. 12. Huds. 383. With. 23.
Hull. 194. ed. 2. 252. Rclh. 343. Sibth. 10.
Abbot. 192. Curt. Land. fasc. 3. t. 59.
O. morio fcemina. Raii Syn. 377.
A . N A T IV E o f meadows and pastures that are rather moist,
flowering in M a y , or early in June.
Root of two nearly globose bulbs, one of which is a little
removed from the other by its stalk. Leaves lanceolate, of a
deepish, but rather glaucous, unspotted green; paler and
shining underneath. Spike rather loose, of from 4 to 8 or
10 flowers, whose predominant colour varies from a very pale
to a rather deep reddish purple *, but in all the varieties the
green ribs of the outer petals, (or rather 3-leaved calyx),
which mark this species, are equally strong. These leaves
cohere over the 2 real petals within. The spur is curved upward,
and obtuse. Lip of 2 deflexed parallel lobes, each of
which is cloven and irregularly crenate, the central ridge between
them white, dotted with purple. The common stalk,
bracteas and germens are more or less tinged with the same
hue.W
e are persuaded of the propriety of terming the 3 outer
leaves of the flower, in the Orchis tribe, a calyx, and the 2
inner ones petals, see Introd. to Bot. 461, according to which
principle our descriptions may, at the pleasure of the reader,
be reformed.
See Mr. Sowerby’s very ingenious Elucidation of Colours, tab. -5. f. 23.