Tas. 5798. 
ARIDES JAPONICUM. 
Japanese dirides. 
Nat. Ord. OrcuipeEx.—GyYnanpriA Monoeynta. 
Gen. Char. (Vide supra, Tas. 5138.) 
ZErwes Japonicum ; foliis brevibus lineari-oblongis recurvis carinatis apice 
oblique bilobis, racemis 6—10-floris, sepalis oblongis obtusis albo-viri- 
dibus, petalis consimilibus, labelli laciniis posticis brevibus plicatis in- 
termedio obovato spathulato basi saccato apice rotundato crenulato 
medio obtuse carinato carina crassa tumida levi alba violaceo-maculata, 
calcare brevi infundibuliforme obtuso adscendente, columna subelon- 
gata, anthera rostrata, 
fErwes Japonicum, Linden et Reich. fil. in Hamburg Garten- und Blumen- 
zeit, ann. 1863, p. 210. 
The presence of rides in so high a northern latitude as 
Japan is a remarkable fact in Botanical Geography, as testify- 
ing to the warmth of the southern coasts of that Archipelago, 
and to the extension of a Malayan type of vegetation to so 
high a parallel. As a species 4. Japonicum is compared by 
Reichenbach with A. radicosum, A. Rich. (Saccolabium Wight- 
anum, Lindl.), from which it differs in habit, but which it 
resembles in the form of the lip. 
Zbrides Japonicum was originally introduced from Japan by 
Mr. Linden of Brussels in 1862, and more recently by Messrs. 
Veitch, with whom the plant from which the present figure 
was taken flowered in June of this year. 
Descr. Stem very short. Leaves six to eight, two to three 
inches long, three quarters to one inch broad, recurved, linear- 
oblong, keeled, unequally two-lobed at the apex, dark green 
above. Raceme six inches long, flowers distant, one and a 
half inches from the tip of the lip to that of the back sepal, 
bracts short. Sepals and petals nearly half an inch long, 
oblong, obtuse, greenish-white; lateral sepals with dull 
OCTOBER Ist, 1869. 
