ORCHIS, in botany, a genus of the Gy nandria Diandria class and order. Natur al order of Orchidex. Essential charac ter: nectary a horn or spur behind the flower. There are fifty species. Among which we shall notice the 0. bifolia, but terfly orchis. This plant has ovate bulbs, tapering to a point at the base ; thick fleshy fibres proceed above them from the base of the stem ; one of these bulbs is always wrinkled and withered, whilst the other is plump and delicate ; the first is the parent of the actual stem ; the se cond is an offset, from the centre of which the stem of the succeeding year is destin ed to arise. Such are the means that nature uses, not only to disseminate plants, but to enable them to change their place, and thus to draw in fresh nu triment. The second root is always about half an inch from the centre of the first, so that in twenty years the plant will have marched ten inches from the place of its birth. This mode of increase is particu larly necessary in a family of plants that rises with great difficulty, and very seldom by seed. 0. conopsea, long-spurred Or
chis, is distinguished by the remoteness of the cells or cases in which the stamens are lodged, and again by the colour of the corolla, the great length of the spur, the delicious fragrance of its flowers, vy. ing with that of the honeysuckle, and particularly by the unusual structure of its flowers. Below the stigma, which is re markably well defined in this species, there is a circular opening between the cavities containing the stamens ; just above the stigma is a very conspicuous ridge ; the stamens s ion change to a brownish hue ; the anthers are club shaped, and are divided as in most others, the gland at the base of the filament is of a circular form, with a cavity on its inner side : the roots of this species are well calculated for making salep.