Tab. 7021. 

 disa racemosa. 



Native of South Africa. 



Xat. Ord. Orchide.e. — Tribe Ophryde^j. 

 Genus Disa, Berg ; (Benth. et HooJc.f. Gen. PL vol. iii. p. 630.) 



Disa (Vexillara) racemosa ; erecta, glaberrima, caule stricto gracili vaginato, foliis 

 4 -6 radicalibus Hneari-lanceolatis acuminatis, racemo laxe 4-9-flore, floribus 

 subsecundis, bracteis late ovatis acutis ovario asquilongis, sepalis lateralibus 

 late elliptiois obtusis, sepalo dorsali ovato obtuso concavo dorso infra medium 

 tumido, petalis oblique oblongis apicibus incurvis columns basi adnatis, labello 

 linear! acuto, columna dorso lamina petaloidea instructa, rostelli brachiis 

 divaricatis apicibus glanduliferis. 



D. racemosa, Linn. f. Suppl. p. 406 ; Bolus in Trans. S. Afric. Phil. Sot: 

 {ined.). 



!>. secunda, Swart* in EongL Vet. Acad. Handl. xxi. 213; Lindl. Gen. et Sp. 

 Orch. 348. 



Satyrium secundum, Thunh. Prodr. Fl. (Jap. 4. 



I am indebted to Mr. Bolus, who is preparing at Kew a 

 Monograph of the genus Disa (for publication in the 

 Transactions of the South African Philosophical Society) 

 for the characters and the following description of this 

 beautiful plant. It is, as he informs me, a native of 

 moist grassy places on the eastern side of Table Mountain, 

 Cape Town, at elevations of 800 to 2500 feet, flowering in 

 December and January, and it extends thence eastward to 

 (irahamstown, where it has been found by Professor Mac 

 Owan, now Superintendent of the Cape Botanical Gardens. 

 It belongs to a section of the genus established by Mr. 

 Bolus under the name of" Vexillata," in which the dorsal 

 sepal is erect, nearly flat or slightly saccate ; the petals 

 inarched and subexserted ; the lip usually narrow; the 

 rostellum high, erect, protruded or reflexed, its arms usually 

 divaricate, and the column itself is produced behind into 

 a petaloid appendage which embraces the long narrow 

 ascending or reflexed anther. This group contains four 

 species. 



D. racemosa was brought to the Royal Gardens from 



OCTOBER 1st, 1888. 



