PLATE XXII. 
CYRTOSIA (ERYTHRORCHIS) LINDLEYANA, ay e 7. 
Nat. Ord. OrcHIpEA. 
Herba robusta elata aphylla, rhizomate elongato torto fibras crassas simplices tortuosas obtusas emittente, ad nodos 
squamoso, apice incrassato in caulem erectum 2~3-pedalem solidum desinente, caule glabro cylindraceo basin 
versus squamato, squamis ovato-oblongis basi lata insertis obtusis, panicula laxe ramosa, ramis paucis horizonta- 
libus basi bracteatis pubescentibus 5—10-floris, floribus spicatis basi bracteolatis, ovario cylindraceo perianthio 
aequilongo velutino tomentoso, perianthii subglobosi sepalis exterioribus oblongis obtusis velutinis 3-5-costatis v. 
subalatis costis flexuosis, petalis oblongo-rotundatis margine crispatis, labello ovato-oblongo concavo lateribus erectis 
v. incurvis marginibus eroso-fimbriatis extus glabro intus barbato subpaleaceo, columna arcuata apice utrinque bi- 
dentata glaberrima antice plana, stigmate transverso, anthera conico-oblonga recurva extus papilloso-tuberculata 
basi biloba biloculari loculis hippocrepiformibus, polliniis 2 hippocrepiformibus cylindraceis laxe granulatis, granulis 
globosis ternis quaternisve, capsulis magnis pendulis obtuse trigonis primum carnosis demum valvis 3 tarde dehis- 
centibus, seminibus late alatis. 
Pococuitus, Falconer, MSS. 
Has. In sylvis temperatis Himalayz orientalis et montibus Khasia, alt. 5-7000 ped. FV. Jul. 
The subject of the present Plate is certainly the most remarkable Orchid in the Himalaya, if not in all 
India, and belongs to a small genus, native of the Eastern Himalaya, the Khasia mountains, and the 
Malayan Islands. This was established by Blume on a Javanese plant with pulpy indehiscent fruit and 
wingless seeds, of which two species are figured in his ‘ Flora Javee;’ since then the same learned author 
has proposed another generic name (Hrythrorchis) for an allied plant agreeing with C. Lindleyi in having 
dehiscent fruit and winged seeds. After a careful study of these, however, Dr. Thomson and I have come 
to the conclusion that the above characters are not of generic importance, being unaccompanied with any 
differences of habit, and the characters themselves being subject to considerable modification in the several 
species; thus the fruit of C. Lindleyana is very fleshy, and presents no trace of dehiscence until old and 
dry, when the valves often do not separate wholly, and the breadth of the wing of the seeds is a very 
variable character in this species, whilst others have much narrower wings. 
Though so different in habit, Cyrtosia is very nearly allied to Vanilla, a genus having a somewhat 
similar pollen-mass and three-valved fleshy capsule, without the intermediate pieces so conspicuous in the 
ordinary type of Orchideous fruit. The hairs of the ovarium are branched and cellular. The tissues of the 
plant abound in a viscid fluid, and are formed of loose cellular tissue, full of oblong and quadrate cells, con- 
taining raphides, and traversed by stout woody bundles; the latter are composed of spirally marked tubes, 
long superimposed cells with dotted walls, very broad tracheee, and thick-walled woody tubes, with their 
sides perforated by pores surrounded by discs, much resembling the woody tissue of Conifere. The three 
placentee of the ovary are very broad and slightly convex, studded with innumerable anatropous ovules of 
