









SEXUAL FORMS OF CATASETUM. 



215 











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appear to regard any of them as sexual forms, for he constantly 

 speaks of them as representing " sections " or " subgenera." Nor 

 is there a word as to those most essential points — the presence or 

 absence of the pollinia, and of the antennae of the column, 

 both of which strengthen my suspicions on the point just men- 

 tioned. Judging, however, by the description, the " § Monachan- 

 thus" represents simply the female form, and thus presents no 

 special difficulty. The " § Myanthus " likewise appears to repre- 



firs.t place it agrees with the 



sent the male form, and for the following reasons: — In the 



plant cultivated in European 

 gardens, and of which the Messrs. Veitch, of Chelsea, were so 

 good as to send me a complete raceme and leaf only a very few days 

 ago. That it is this plant Rodrigues himself asserts, in a later 

 note (I. c. p. 206), for he points out that it is the one figured by 

 Reichenbach (Xen. Orch. ii. p. 171, t. 170. fig. 5), also by Andre 

 (III. Hort. xxiv. n. s., t. 170), though he lays claim to his own 

 later name superseding the original one, on the ground that 

 he first described the other forms of the species, and that it 

 it known under the name in Brazil. Here, then, we have the 

 Myanthus form, and consequently can examine its characters. 

 First, it is not a Myanthus at all, confining the term to the group 

 to which it was originally applied, and which may be adopted (in 

 a somewhat altered sense) for a large and very natural section of 

 the genus. It belongs to another group, hereafter defined as 



Eucat 



The ovary 





is atrophied, as in other males of the genus, the column compa- 

 ratively elongated, the pollinia perfect, one of the antennae stand- 

 ing forward and highly sensitive, and the other turned round 

 near the base of the column and functionless, as in others of the 

 section. Having disposed of the male and female forms of the 

 species, there remains the so-called " § Catasetum" form, which 

 to me is a complete mystery. The complete description is here 

 appeuded *, and it will be observed that it is just the essential 











* " § Catasetum, scapo erecto, crasso, 3-5-floribus ; perianthio explanato ; 

 sepalis oblongis, acutis, concavis, paten tissimis ; petalis oblongis, ad basin atten- 

 uates, cum marginibus recurvis ; labeilo obconico, cum inarginibus crispis, 

 dentatis, recurvis, acuto in fronte ; gynostemio brevi, mucronato. 



Les 



mouchetes i 



i de brun-pourpre, le labelle jaunatre tres-finement mouchetede 



la meme couleur, ainsi que le gynosteme, qui est aussi vert. La 

 Rodr. I. c. p. 127. 















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