ORCHIDS OP MADAGASCAR. 493 



Gussonia exilis— Microcoelia exilis, Lindley, Gen. and Sp. 

 Orel. PI. p. 61. 



G. caule brevi crassiusculo ramoso, radices copiosissime emit- 

 tente ; racemis pluribus elongatis gracillimis triuncialibus pluri- 

 floris ; vaginis pluribus acutis ; floribus minutissimis ; bracteis 

 baud vaginantibus, membranaceis ovatis acuminatis ; sepalis ob- 

 longis lanceolatis obtusis ; petalis subsimilibus minoribus parum 

 angustioribus ; labello brevi oblongo ovato obtuso; calcare gib- 

 boso-saccato ; columna brevi ; anthera depressa conica ; polliniis 

 parvis oblongis; caudicula oblonga; lobis rostelli maguis tri- 

 angulis. 



Madagascar, Forbes, no. 28, in Herb. Brit. Mus. ! and Herb. 

 Lindley ! 



This singular little scrambling epiphyte is remarkable for the 

 immense extent of its roots in proportion to the size of the rest 

 of the plant. It has a short stout stem but little branched, 

 1 inch long and about 2 lines thick. The racemes are much 

 longer and laxer than those of G. aphylla, and bear at the base 

 a few acute sheathing-leaves. I have seen no other leaves at- 

 tached to the plant, but among the roots are entangled a number 

 of very small leathery oblong leaves, which may possibly belong 

 to it. The bracts are not sheathing at the base, they are ovate 

 acuminate. The flowers are among the smallest of Orchideous 

 plants, hardly 1 millim. in length. The sepals and petals are 

 blunt and oblong-lanceolate ; the lip very short, its base forming 

 a rather large saccate spur. The anther is rather large and 

 somewhat firmly attached to the column. The pollinia are xery 

 small and orange-coloured. The lobes of the rostellum are 

 foliaeeous, triangular. 



Aeranthus, Lindley. 



This genus has been removed from the neighbourhood of An- 

 grcecum and referred to that of Aerides by the authors of the 

 ' Genera Plantarum,' apparently on the supposition that the 

 column has a long foot like the latter genus. This is not the case 

 in any of the specimens which I have seen, which include one of 

 Lindlev's types of the genus. The comparative scarcity of spe- 

 cimens in satisfactory condition for examination is probably the 

 cause of the error. Among Deans Cowan's spirit-specimens is, 

 however, a single flower, from the examination of which I make 



