340 MB. G. BENTIIAM OTf 0BCHIDE2E. 



terrestrial and American, tall and erect, with more or less plicate 

 or strongly ribbed leaves. Galeola, Lour., about twelve species, 

 should, I think, include Cyrtosia, Blume, Erythorchis, afterwards 

 HcematorcJiis, Blume, Pogochilus, Falcon., Ledgeria, F. Muell., and 

 Eriaccis, Beichb. f. These supposed genera have been distinguished 

 chiefly by the fruit, which is fleshy, and said to be quite indehis- 

 cent in G.javanica, fleshy and splitting into valves only when very 

 old in G. Lindleyana and G. septentrionalis, longer, more slender* 

 and readily dehiscent in G. altissima and G. cassytfioides. Most 

 of the species are leafless ; but in G. {Ledgeria) foliata, F. Muell., 

 the scales subtending the branches of the inflorescence are enlarged 

 almost into true leaves, and in a New- Caledonian species (Eriaxis, 

 Beichb. f.), and possibly some others, real leaves are developed on 

 a few barren branch e Eriaxis itself closely resembles in most 

 respects G. altissima ; but the capsule is said to split into six 

 valves, which may be the normal number, though in other species 

 they adhere variously into two, three, or four. The genus retained 

 in entirety is an eminently natural one. Vanilla, Sw., has about 

 twenty species nearly allied to, but perfectly distinct from Galeola, 

 and dispersed over the tropical regions of both the New and the 

 Old World. Though the majority of the species are leafy, there is 

 one which, like Galeola, has no leaves. The fruit is usually inde- 

 hiscent, but will sometimes when old split into valves. 



Sobralia, Ruiz and Pav., about thirty species, ought probably to 

 include Fregea, Eeichb. f., a genus founded on a single dried 

 specimen, and Cyathoglottis, Poepp. and Endl. ; neither of them 

 are, however, known to me, except from the published figures and 

 descriptions. EpistepJiium, Kunth, about six species, is distin- 

 guished from Sobralia by the dentate apex of the ovary, a cha- 

 racter which is of no more than specific value in the few instances 

 where it has been observed in other genera ; but here it is too 

 constant through several species to be neglected, and appears to 

 be accompanied by some other slight differences. Sertifera was 

 established by Lindley in his herbarium on a well-marked, small- 

 flowered species in Spruce's Ecuador collection, and taken up 

 and characterized by Beichenbaeh, who has since added a second 

 Peruvian species unknown to me, but which, from the character 

 given, may possibly not prove to be a true congener. 



Subtribe 2. Cobymbeje. — The two genera Corymbis and 

 Tropidia, with the floral structure of a few genera of Spiranthea?, 

 have so totally different a habit and inflorescence that one feels 



