No doubt the reader is already acquainted with the commoner Plantains (order _Plantaginaceæ_), so easily distinguished by their spreading radical leaves, with prominent, parallel ribs, and their dense spikes of greenish flowers. There are five British species, one of which--the Hoary Plantain or Lamb's-tongue (_Plantago media_) is particularly partial to chalky districts, where it grows in pastures and on dry banks. Its flowering stems grow from three inches to a foot in height, and the flowers bloom from June to September. The leaves are elliptical, either sessile or shortly stalked, and have from five to nine ribs. They lie so closely on the soil that nothing can grow beneath them, and even present the appearance of having been pressed against the ground. They also have a downy surface; and the stalk, where it exists, is flattened. The flowering stem is round, and the spike cylindrical. The calyx is cleft into four, with its segments turned backward; and the sepals are not keeled as they are in some other species. The corolla is tubular, with four spreading limbs; and the cream-coloured anthers are displayed on the tips of long filaments. [Illustration: 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.