204 CXXXIII. ORCHIDEÆ (ROLFE). | Platanthera. 
trilobed ; middle lobe subulate or tooth-like, situated between the 
anther cells; side lobes short. Capsule ellipsoid or oblong.—Terres- 
trial herbs with the habit of Orchis. Tubers ovoid-globose or rarely 
lobed. Flowers small or large, in lax or dense spikes or racemes. 
Bracts mostly narrow. 
A genus of 60 or 70 species, dispersed through the north temperate regions, and in 
the tropics of Asia and Africa, chiefly in the mountains. 
Distinguished from Habenaria by the short, more or less confluent stigmas. 
Spur straight or slightly curved. 
Spikes lax. $ e e 
Spikes dense. ; 
Lip cuneate-dilated, trilobed : ` ; . 2. P. engleriana. 
Lip ovate-oblong, entire x S : : . 3. P. tenuior, 
Spur hooked, constricted in the middle, subglobose at the 
apex ` Š S S : : : . 4, P. uncata. 
. 1. P. helleborina. 
1. P. helleborina, folfe. Plant 1-1} ft. high, leafy. Leaves 
lanceolate-oblong, acute or subacute, 2-4 in. long, 4—14 in. broad, 
decreasing upwards into the bracts. Bracts ovate-lanceolate, acute, 
3-1} in. long. Pedicels 5-6 lin. long. Flowers green, with a lilac 
spotted lip. Dorsal sepal oblong-lanceolate, subobtuse, subgaleate, 
5 lin. long; lateral spreading, reflexed, falcate-oblong, subobtuse, 
5 lin. long. Petals faleate-oblong, obtuse, appressed to the dorsal sepal 
forming a hood, 5 lin. long. Lip 10-11 lin. long, shortly clawed, then 
much dilated, suborbicular or obovate-orbicular, emarginate or shortly 
bilobed, 8 lin. broad ; disc with a pair of keel-like lamell at the base ; 
spur conical, narrowed near the apex, subobtuse, 4 lin. long. Anther 
oblong, 14 lin. long, with short caudicles. Stigmas very short, nearly 
confluent. Rostellum tooth-like, minute. Capsule oblong, 7-8 lin. 
long.—Habenaria helleborina, Nichols. Dict. Gard. ii. 107. Gymnadenra 
macrantha, Lindl. Gen. & Sp. Orch. 279; Kränzl. in Reichb. f. Xen. 
Orch. iii. 71, t. 236 ; var. punctulata, Kriinzl. Let 237, fig. 2. Kulophia 
helleborina, Hook. f. in Bot. Mag. t. 5875. 
Upper Guinea. Sierra Leone: Turner! Bockstatt ! Hart! shady places on 
the way up Sugarloaf Mountain, Scott-Elliot, 4061 ! 
2. P. engleriana, Rolfe. Stem very long, over 3 ft. high, slender, 
the lower 10 inches clothed with distant sheaths, the upper part leafy. 
Leaves about 20, lanceolate, acuminate, distant, decreasing into the 
bracts above. Bracts leaf-like, but smaller than the leaves, the 
lower longer than the flowers, the upper equalling them. Spikes 
dense, many-flowered, glabrous, continuous with the upper leaves. 
Sepals ovate, obtuse; lateral a little oblique at the base. Petals 
ovate, obtuse, more slender than the sepals. Lip with a narrow base, 
suddenly dilated into a trilobed limb; side lobes triangular ; front lobe 
elongate-linear, obtuse; dise with 2 straight elevated calli between 
the side lobes, connected by a very narrow isthmus; spur long, stout, 
cylindrical, slightly curved, obtuse, as long as the lip. Column tall, 
