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.
[Illustration: 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.
The Green Musk Orchis (_Herminium Monorchis_), also rather rare, is to be found in chalky pastures of the South, flowering in June and July. It has oval, stalked tubers; two lanceolate, radical leaves, and generally only one leaf on the slender stem. The spike is loose and slender; and the flowers, which are small and green, are sessile, and emit a musky odour during the night. The sepals are broad ovate; the petals narrower; and the lip is three-lobed, pouch-like at the base, with terminal lobe longer than the other two.
One of the most remarkable, and, at the same time, one of the most beautiful of Orchids is the Bee Orchis (_Ophrys apifera_). Although not to be described as common, it is frequently to be seen in moderate numbers on banks and in open ground in calcareous districts. Its height is from six to twelve inches, and it flowers during June and July. The leaves are short, oblong, and mostly radical; the bracts large and leafy; and the flowers, numbering from two to six, are arranged in a lax spike, and very closely resemble certain species of bees. The sepals are spreading, oval, and pink inside; and the petals are linear and downy. The lip of the flower is swollen and broad, very velvety, and of a rich brown colour variegated with yellow. It is not longer than the sepals, and has four lobes, the two lower of which are hairy, while the other two are bent under. There is also a sharp, reflexed appendage in the notch. The flower is shown on Plate VIII.