The word Orchis is used in a special sense to denote a particular genus of the Orchid family (Orchidaceae); very frequently, also, it is employed in a more general way to indicate any member of that large and very interesting group. It will be convenient here to use the word Orchis as applying to that particular genus which gives its name to the order or family, and to employ the term "orchid" in the less precise sense.
Such being in general terms the mechanism of the flower of a common orchis, let us now see how it acts.
This fact will account for the profusion with which some orchids, like the common bee orchis for instance, are found in some seasons and their scarcity in others.
Geranium, Cardamine pratensis, mallows, Rubus, Oxalis, Epilobium, &c., but many species show more or less well-marked median symmetry (zygomorphism) as Euphrasia, Orchis, thyme, &c., and red, blue and violet are the usual colours.
Thyme and the small white dune-rose (Rosa pimpinellifolia) also grow in the dunes, and wall-pepper (Sedum acre), field fever-wort, reindeer moss, common asparagus, sheep's fescue grass, the pretty Solomon-seal (Polygonatum officinale), and the broadleaved or marsh orchis (Orchis latifolia).