[ 27° ]
S E R A P I A S paluftris.
Marjh Helleborlne.
/ ( it/ .
G T N A N D R I A Diandria.
Gen. Char. Neffary ovate, gibbous, with an ovate
lip.
Spec. C har. Roots creeping. Leaves lanceolate,
embracing the Item. Flowers drooping. Lip
‘ crenate, obtufe, equal to the petals.
Svn. Serapias paluftris. Light/. FI. Scot. 527.
S. latifolia y, paluftris. Hudf. FI. An. 393.
S. longifolia. Linn. Syjl. Veg. Ed. 14. 815. With.
Bot. Arr. 998. Rslh. Cant. 341. Sibth. Oxon. 14.
Helleborine paluftris noftras. Raii Syn. 384.
I N fwampy meadows and on watery commons in various
parts of England, not very unfrequent; we doubt its being to
be met with in any other kind of fituation. The flowers are
in perfection about July or Auguft.
Root creeping, flelhy, perennial. Stem eredt, Ample, 12 or
18 inches high, lower leaves ovate, often purple at the back;
upper ones lanceolate, erect; all embracing the Item, and
ribbed. Spike eredt. Bracte lanceolate, about equal to the
germen. Flowers fewer and much larger than in the preceding
fpecies, drooping, with downy, purple flower-ftalks and
germen. Petals rather obtufe, the three outermoft green,
two innermoft white, all ftreaked and ftained with purple;.
Nedtary about as long as the petals, white ftreaked with purple,
and a yellow central line; lip heart-fhaped, blunt, with a dilated
waving crenated margin, and a notched protuberance
above the bafe.
There is no doubt of this being a very diftindt fpecies from
that in the laft plate, and the characters above defcribed
fufftciently diftinguifh them; there muft therefore be a very
great error in Mr. Hudfon’s aflertion, that this, if planted in
a garden or dry foil, will the fecond year become S. latifolia.
We have known fuch miftakes fometimes happen. We prefer
Lightfoot’s and Scopoli’s name paluftris to longifolia, becaufe
the latter is more applicable to many other fpecies, and the
former, being extremely apt, is moft generally adopted.