Me. g. bentham on oechide^s. 343 



Loureiro under the preoccupied name Aristotelea. Richard's 

 name, the first well-established and properly characterized one, 

 has therefore been rightly adopted by all except perhaps by 

 Bluine, who unfortunately took up Persoon's; Cyclopogon, Presl, 

 is also the same genus. The species vary much in foliage, and 

 especially in the size of the flower, and have been distributed iuto 

 several genera, although different authors have assigned different 

 limits to each. I would propose the following four sections as 

 the most natural:— 1. Spiranthes proper, comprising a large 

 number of the best-known North- American, European, and Asiatic 

 species with usually narrow leaves and small flowers in a spiral 

 line round the axis of the spike, the lateral sepals obliquely 

 attached to the apex of the ovary, or only very shortly decurrent. 

 2. Sauroglossum, the radical leaves petiolate and ovate or ovate- 

 lanceolate, the loose spike scarcely unilateral, with the flowers 

 usually larger than in Euspiranthes, the lateral sepals less 

 obliquely attached and not decurrent. The species are few and all 

 tropical American, including the genera Sauroglossum and Sgnassa 

 of Lindley, also the Spiranthes elata, A. Eich., which, however, is 

 specifically distinct from Sauroglossum elatum, Lindl. 3. Sarco- 

 glottis, with the foliage and inflorescence of Sauroglossitm, but the 

 flowers usually larger, the lateral sepals with the base of the 

 column decurrent on the ovary, but not forming a prominent 

 mentum. The species are few, all tropical American, including 

 the genus Sarcoglottis, Presl. 4. Stcnorlujnclms : tall plants, the 

 radical leaves usually narrowed at the base, the spike dense with 

 large flowers, the lateral sepals with the base of the column de- 

 current far down the ovary, forming a distinctly prominent 

 mentum. The species are all American, tropical or subtropical, 

 and include, besides those usually referred to the genus Steno- 

 rhynchus, L. C. Eich., the Spiranthes hirta and S. honariensis, 

 Lindl., and a few others. Ponthieva, E. Br., about ten American 

 species, requires no comment. BasJcervilla, Lindl., a single 

 Peruvian species, has a very singular rostellum, and the pollen- 

 masses appear solid, and are produced into long caudicles ; yet 

 the place of the genus seems clearly to be among the Spiranthea? ; 

 the analysis sketched in herb. Lindl. has proved not to be quite 

 correct. Pelexia, Lindl., first published by him as Colleus, should 

 be limited to the seven or eight species with a long, spur- 

 shaped basal projection of the lateral sepals. The name* Pelexia 

 was originally Poiteau r s, mentioned by L. C. Eichard as a genus, 



LLNN. JOUBN. — BOTANY, VOL. XVIII. 2 C 



