Tas. 7489, 
SARCOCHILUS HatnaneEnsis. 
Native of the Island of Hainan. 
Nat. Ord. OncHIDEZ.—Tribe VanDEz. 
Genus Sarcocuitvs, Br.; (Benth. & Hook. f. Gen. Plant. vol. ili. p. 575.) 
SarcocHitus (Cuculla) hainanensis; caule elongato radicante robusto, foliis 
4-5-pollicaribus lineari-oblongis obtusis, vaginis brevibus, racemis 
secundis patentibus et decurvis crasse pedunculatis compressis, bracteis 
rachi adnatis brevibus distiche imbricatis ovatis obtusis carnosis, floribus 
2-pollicaribus, perianthio angusto falcato aureo, sepalis petalisque con- 
similibus anguste linearibus falcatis conniventibus, labello parvo sacci- 
forme puberulo, lobis lateralibus parvis triangularibus obtusis, terminali 
crasso conico obtuso basi intus squama parva obtusa instructo, sacco 
late conico apice rotundato 2-lobo intus basi villoso, columna brevi, 
anthera hemispherica, polliniis oblongis. 
The genus Sarcochilus is a very large tropical Hastern 
Asiatic one, the species of which have never been reduced 
to a system, and, being polymorphous, may offer characters 
for the establishment of several genera. In the “ Flora 
of British India” I brought thirty-five species, more than 
half of which were new, and some of the rest taken out of 
genera to which they did not belong, under Sarcochilus, 
dividing them into nine sections. Of these sections Cuculla, 
to which S. hainanensis belongs, is one of the best marked, 
on account of the compressed rachis of the raceme, with 
pectinately arranged, imbricating, persistent bracts. ‘The 
flowers appear to come out two at a time in the species 
here figured, one from each of two adjacent bracts, 
the rachis of the raceme probably having a very long 
duration. : 
The plant here figured was one amongst a collection of 
Orchids made in the Island of Hainan in Southern China, 
which was sent in 1894 to the Royal Gardens, Kew, by the 
Director of the Botanical Gardens of Hong Kong. It 
flowered in a stove in July of the same year. 
Descr.—Stem (in the specimen figured) six inches high, 
erect and leafy, but probably attaining a much greater 
length, and becoming pendulous, as thick as a goose-quill, 
Aveust Ist, 1896. 
