‘* Anode cespitose,’ distinguished by their tufted | 
absence of a rootstock, .small leaves, much excee 
the scape, and long raceme of many small flowers. Lappy 
in this instance Bentham’s and Lindley’s sections so far 
coincide, that the latter has retained for the section, the 
name Apode.. o | 
Fortunately P. ornata has a character for which it may 
be distinguished from all its known congeners in the ex- 
quisitely beautiful silvery threads, all of equal length, that 
fringe the sepals, and being attached by an almost im- 
perceptible base wave with every motion of the flower 
or air. These threads have been studied by Mr. Frank ~ 
' Oliver, and describedjin “ Nature’? (see citation above). Hach — 
is slightly clavate in form, gradually enlarging from the 
base to the obtuse apex; its walls are thin and trans- 
parent, and its cavity contains air alone. A careful — 
examination of the base of each shows that it is formed by 
the elongation of one of a group of very small marginal 
epidermal cells, the swollen base of which is embraced by 
the cells on either side of it, as shown in fig. 5, which is 
copied from Mr. Oliver’s drawing. These threads have, 
been compared to the curious pendulous and equally 
vibratile organs of Bulbophyllum lemniscatum (Plate 5961), 
in which they proceed one from the back-of each sepal; but. 
whereas the threads of P. ornata are of the simplest | . 
structure, those of the Bulbophyllum are extraordinarily _ 
complex, as a reference to the plate shows. Another — 
plant with analogous appendages is Hpicrianthes javanica, 
Blume (Bulbophyllum, nob.), in which six pendulous | j 
threads in clusters of three replace each petal; the. 
structure of these is known to me only from a drawing by 
Parish, which represents them as entirely similar te those — 
of Pleurothallis ornata; Blume, however, describes them — 
as fleshy. eae ane 
Pleurothallis ornata flowered in the Royal Gardens in 
April, 1887. The plant was presented by Messrs. Shuttle- 
worth and Carder, of Clapham.—J. D. H. 
Fig. 1, Section of leaf; 2 and 3, flowers; 4, portion of sepal with appen- 
dages ; 5, transverse section through margin of sepal, showing insertion of | . 
appendage ; 6, flower with sepals removed ; 7, lip; 8, column; 9, pollinia:-— 
all enlarged, 
