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ORCHIS latifolia.
Marsh Orchis.
QYNANDRIA Monandria.
G en. Char. Nectary a spur behind tlie flower. Anther
parallel to the style.
Spec. Char. Bulbs somewhat palmate. Horn of the
nectary conical: lip three-cleft. Bracteas double
the length of the flowers.
S yn. Orchis latifolia. Linn. Sp. PL 1334. Sm. FI.
Brit. 924. Huds. 385. With. 26 . Hull. ed. 2 . 253.
Relh. 334. Sibth. 11. Abbot. 192. Curt. Bond,
fasc. 5. t. 65. FI. Dan. t. 266.
O. palmata pratensis latifolia, longis calcaribus.
Ran Syn. 380.
(2. O. palmata palustris, tota rubra. Dill, in Bail
Syn. 382.
F r e q u e n t in marshy meadows, flowering in May and
June.
The roots are imperfectly palmate, consisting of unequal
awlshaped straightish lobes or portions. Stem hollow, leafy,
from one to two feet high. Leaves sheathing, lanceolate,
broadish, gradually smaller upwards, unspotted. Spike dense,
many-flowered, pointed. Bracteas remarkably long, erect,
leafy, sometimes coloured. Flowers varying in hue from a
pale flesh-colour to a full rose or crimson, the side petals
dotted, the middle of the lip elegantly variegated. Spur de-
flexed, somewhat shorter than the germen.
W e adopt the variety (3 from Dillenius only. This species
is certainly variable in size and colour, and, as Ray observes,
is described in books several times over. It has been thought
by some of our friends that two species, differing somewhat
in their times of flowering, length of bracteas, and colour of
the corolla, exist in England, but we have not been able to
ascertain this point.