Field and Woodland Plants

by William S. Furneaux

An Orchis Flower.
S, sepals. P, petals. L, lip. C, spur. A, pollen masses. B, stigma.

We have now to consider several representatives of the Orchidaceæ, and it will be well here to note the general characters of this remarkable order as a whole. The Orchids have rounded or palmate tuberous roots, a few glossy leaves which sheath the stem, and simple spikes or racemes of flowers, the prevailing colours of which are red, pink, green and white. The sepals, three in number, often partake more of the nature of petals. There are three petals, the lowest one, forming the lower lip of the flower, often prolonged into a spur, and frequently assuming a remarkable form resembling an insect or some other member of the animal creation. The stamens are united to the style, and form with it a solid column, but usually only one produces pollen, and this one commonly consists of one or two club-shaped masses. The ovary is inferior, often twisted so as to invert the flower, and sometimes so long as to be mistaken for a flower stalk. The stigma is hollow, sticky, and situated just in front of the column above mentioned. The fruit is a three-valved capsule, containing many seeds.

Orchids are generally scented flowers, and produce nectar which is stored either in the cavity of the spur, or within the tissue of the same. In the latter case it cannot be obtained by insects unless they bore into the substance of the spur, and the delay caused renders the removal of the pollen more certain. While the nectar is being withdrawn, the head of the insect is pressed against a sticky disc at the base of the pollen masses, with the result that both disc and pollen masses are bodily removed, and the insect leaves the flower with the whole attached to its head. It often happens, too, that the pollen masses bend forward as the insect flies through the air, and thus they are more likely to be pressed against the stigma when another flower is visited. Here, then, is another wonderful contrivance for the purpose of securing cross-fertilisation, and the whole process may be imitated by thrusting the point of a pencil into the spur of a flower which has not been previously visited by an insect, and then inserting the point into the spur of a second flower. It should be noted, also, that the pollen is not all removed by contact with the sticky surface of a stigma against which the pollen masses are pressed, and thus the pollen obtained from one flower will often fertilise several others.

Our first species—the Broad-leaved Helleborine (Epipactis latifolia), is common in hilly woods, where it flowers during July and August. Its single stem grows from one to three feet high, and the leaves are broadly ovate and ribbed. The flowers are greenish, with reddish-purple lips, and are arranged in a long, loose, one-sided raceme. The sepals are ovate, longer than the acute lower lobe of the lip; and the bracts are generally longer than the flowers. The ovary is downy, and not so long as the bracts. ([Plate II], Fig. 5.)

The somewhat similar Large White Helleborine (Cephalanthera grandiflora), which bears creamy white flowers in May and June, is also common in some of the woods on calcareous soils.

The Pyramidal Orchis (O. pyramidalis) grows in limestone pastures, flowering during July and August. This species varies from six to eighteen inches in height, and has linear, acute leaves. The spike of flowers is very dense, of a pyramidal form, and the individual blooms are small, usually of a rose colour, but occasionally white or nearly so. The sepals are spreading, and the lip of the flower has three equal lobes which are oblong and abruptly cut at the tips. The spur is slender and longer than the ovary.

The Fragrant Gymnadenia or Sweet-scented Orchis (Habenaria conopsea or Gymnadenia conopsea) is common on chalky heaths and hilly pastures. It grows from twelve to eighteen inches high, has palmate, tuberous roots, and oblong-lanceolate, acute, keeled leaves. The flowers appear from June to August, and are in a dense, elongated spike. The buds are of a deep rose colour, and the open flowers are very fragrant, of a lighter colour, and not spotted. The bracts have three veins; the lateral sepals are spreading; the spur long and slender, much longer than the ovary; and the lip of the flower has three, equal, undivided lobes.

The Sweet-Scented Orchis.

The Green Man Orchis (Aceras anthropophora), though rather rare, and confined to the dry, chalky pastures of East England, is too interesting to be omitted from our selection. The plant is from six to twelve inches high, with palmate tubers, and mostly radical leaves. The flowers are sessile, forming a loose spike, and are strange caricatures of the human figure. Each has a comparatively large green hood, a slender yellowish lip with two lateral lobes to represent the arms, and two similar terminal lobes for the legs. The lateral sepals are green, ovate and convergent; and the flower has no spur. The time of flowering is June and July.