In illustration of the singular structure of this genus, it may be interesting to quote Professor Lin pLEy’s 
observations in the “ Botanical Register,” under the head of C. aurea (on which the genus was founded) 
but which are equally applicable to the more recent species :— 
2 
“The pollen-mosses consist of two yellow plates placed side by side in the bed of the anther, united at the back, 
and slightly notched on the outer edge, so that it is, in reality, four-lobed, the lobes being extremely unequal; each lobe 
has a thickened margin, and, rising up, overlies and conceals four other lobes of a thicker texture and smaller size, two of 
which arise from the back and two from the front of the inner edge of the principal lobes of the plates above described. 
This remarkable structure may be theoretically described as being equivalent to eight pollen-mosses, of which the straps 
of connection, such as exist in all Epidendrec, are run together into two plates, from the expansion of the edges of which 
the pollen-mosses appear to spring.” —(Sud. t. 1937, Bot. Reg. 1840.) 
Crosses similar to the one introduced below are of frequent occurrence in various districts of Mexico 
and Guatemala. 
