( 4028 ) 



Megaclinium maximum. Largest Mega- 



clinium. 



Class and Order. 

 Gynandria Monandria. 



( Nat. Ord. — Orchide^e. ) 



Generic Character. 



Pollinia 4, cereacea aequalia geminatim cohaerentia, cau- 

 dicula glandulaque nullis. Anthera terminals, opereularis,. 

 persistens mirmta unilocularis. Stigma parvum intrusuin, 

 rostello emarginato. Columna plana, abbreviata, apice bi- 

 cuspidata. Labellum integerrimum cum pede column* 

 elastice articulatum. Sepala exteriora basi connata : supe- 

 nore difformi, interioribus nanis. — Herbae epiphytce, oligo- 

 phylla, ccespitosce, bulbosce, (Africce et Asice inter tropicos). 

 Scapi radicales simplices: rachidibus dilatatis. Lindl. 



Specific Character and Synonyms. 



Megaclinium* maximum; sepalo supremo acuto lateralibus 

 margine involutis acuminatissimis reflexis, labello line- 

 ari revoluto. Lindl. 



Megaclinium maximum. Lindl. Bot. Reg. t. 1909. Gen. 

 et Sp. Orchid, p. 47. 



One of the many strange vegetable features of the vege- 

 table kingdom, for which the Orchideous family is so 

 remarkable. In the species of this Genus, the rachis, or 

 stalk immediately bearing the flowers, is broad, flat, and 

 sword-shaped, and upon each side of this, the very sin- 

 gular 



* So named by Dr. Lindley from /*«y«c, large, and x*m, a bed, in allu- 

 sion to the broad, sword-shaped bed or rachis of the flowers. 



