Tas. 8014. 
LISTROSTACHYS brpeys. 
West Tropical Africa. 
Orcurpace&, Tribe VANDEA. 
Listrostacuys, Reichb. f.; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. Plant. vol. iii. p. 583, sub 
Angraeco; Pfitzer in Engl. & Prantl Pflanzenf. vol. ii. 6, p. 215. 
Listrostachys bidens, Rolfe in Thiselton-Dyer Fl. Trop. Afr. vol. vii. p. 160; 
inter species caulibus elongatis et floribus parvis, labello sursum attenuato 
apice breviter tridentato distincta. 
Frutex in arboribus epiphyticus. Caules elongati, teretes, circiter 2-4 lin. 
diametro, internodiis quam foliis brevioribus. Folia numerosa, disticha, 
semiamplexicaulia, crassa, coriacea, glabra, ovato-oblonga, 2-24 poll. longa, 
# to 1} lata, apice oblique bilobata, lobis obtusis, basi constricta, con- 
strictione brevi, circiter 20-nervia. Flores suaveolentes, circiter semi- 
pollicares, incarnati, in racemos extra-axillares graciles pendentes 
dispositi, subsessiles; bractess parvee, squamiformes. Sepala ovata, 
obtusa, Petala sepalis similia sed minora. Labellum subcordiforme, 
apice breviter tridentatum, supra dentem curvato ad calcaris ostinm 
spectante instructum. Calear labellum wquans. -Pollinia 2, stipitibus 
2 distinctis affixa, glandula simplice squamiformi.—Limodorum bidens, 
Afz. ex Sw. in Vet. Acad. Handl. Stockh. 1800, p. 423 (nomen tantum) ; 
Pers. Syn. vol. ii. p. 521. 
Tropical Africa is by no means so rich as India in the 
number and splendour of her known orchids, but recent 
explorations have greatly increased the number. Nine 
genera alone contribute upwards of 500 species :—Bulbo- 
phyllum, 41 ; Hulophia, 65 ; Lissochilus, 83 ; Polystachya, 74; 
Angrexcum, 48 ; Iistrostachys, 52; Habenaria, 107 ; Satyriwm, 
33; and Disa, 20. Some of these are very handsome, but 
they pale before the Asiatic Vandzx and Dendrobia. 
Listrostachys was separated from Angraecum by Reichen- 
bach, and founded on A. pertusum, Lindl. (B.M. t. 
4782); but he, as usual, did not explain the application of 
the name, and it is not obvious. The Greek “ listron” is 
described as an instrument for levelling roads—a shovel or 
roller! We can only suppose that it was in reference to 
the flowers of L. pertusa being arranged like the teeth of a 
rake, for which “ listron” is also given as the equivalent. 
In Angrecum, as distinguished from Listrostachys, the 
pollinia are in pairs on a simple stalk. A. caudatum, 
Lindl. (B.M. t. 4370), and A. chailluanum, Hook. f. 
(t. 5589) belong to the latter genus. The allied genus 
May Isr, 1905. : | 
