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O P H R Y S fpiraJis.
Spiral Ophrys, or Ladies' Traces.
G T N A N D R IA Diandria.
G en. Char. Neffary confiding of a lip only, flightly
carinated at the back.
Spec. Char. Bulbs cludered, oblong. Stem fbme-
what leafy. Flowers leaning fpirally to one fide.
Lip undivided, crenate.
Syn. Ophrys fpiralis. Linn. Sp. PI. 1340. HudJ. %89.
With. 33. Relb. 337. Sihtb. 12. Curt. Lond.
f af c• 4 * 59* H. Sicc.fafc. 10. 17.
Orchis fpiralis alba odorata. Raii Syn. 378.
Miss Lyfons, to whom we were obliged for a wild fpecimen
of the Adonis t. 308, favoured us with this Ophrys, which may
juftly be reckoned among the rarer Britifh plants; for although
it grows in many parts of the kingdom occafionally, either on
dry gravelly or chalky hills or in meadows, and often in great
plenty; it will feldom be found flowering two years together on
the fame fpot, nor perhaps till 8 or 10 years after it has been
firft obferved, notwithftanding the root is perennial. Nor do
the leaves conftantly appear; or if they do, in fome years they
fpeedily wither away. Its flowering feafon is Auguft or September.
r
The root confifts of feveral oblong downy bulbs, each appearing
to be formed 2 or 3 years before it produces the flowering
plant, as in Satyrium albidum, t. 505; only in the prefent
cafe thofe bulbs feem to be produced folitarily, not in pairs:
Stem Angle, 5 or 6 inches high, invefted with a few fmall
fheathing leaves. The radical leaves are ovate, fpreading,
glaucous, fmooth, fometimes finely pubefcent about the edge.
Spike terminal, ereft, of many fmall, greenifh-white, feflile,
fweet-fcented flowers, leaning to one fide, but arranged in a
fpiral line either to the right or left, and each overshadowed by
a concave pointed braftea. The whole fpike, with its ftalk, is
downy and vifcid. Three upper petals adhering together.
Lip oblong, crenate, with an oblolete lobe at the' bafe. What
appears to be the ftigma is a very peculiar roundifh hairy
protuberance, with a cloven point, hanging as it were beneath
the antherae. See Dr. Stokes’s full defcription in Withering.