"Spiranthes autumnalis" in Scotland

Abstract

GREAT is the debt which British botanists—experts and amateurs alike—owe to the authors of the “Handbook of the British Flora.” It is scarcely possible to imagine a simpler or more convenient key to the natural orders. But a good deal has been added to our knowledge of British plants since the last revision of the work by Sir Joseph Hooker forty years ago, and it is to be regretted that before the latest edition was published in 1918 it was not passed through the hands of a competent editor to bring the work up to date. For instance, it is stated that the little orchid, Spiranthes autumnalis, is found nowhere north of Yorkshire and Westmorland. I had always accepted this as gospel until last August, when, while exploring a wood on Speyside for Linnaea borealis, I came upon a little colony of “lady's tresses.” Since then I have received trustworthy information that Spiranthes grows in the valley of the Nairn.