THE ORCHIDS OF THE BOMBAY PRESIDENCY. 589 



2. Luisia tenuifolia, Blume. Fl. Br. Ind. VI. p. 24 ; Dalz. 

 & Gibs, p. 266 ; Cooke, Fl. of Bombay II., p. 702. 



Stems slender, pendulous, up to 2 feet long, leaves up to 8 inches 

 long, rather more slender than in the last species. Flowers in short 

 spikes, 1\ inch in diameter, sepals yellow, suffused with purple, 

 dorsal sepal broad oblong obtuse, lateral ovate, smaller, petals colour- 

 ed as in sepals, linear obtuse, falcate, nearly as long again as lateral 

 sepals, lip with a dull white ground colour, thick, convex, almost 

 fiddle-shaped, base broad with two lateral earlike-lobes, disk long, 

 with a lar-ge quadrate, purple blotch near base, and three long chan- 

 nels upward terminating in a purple 2-lobed, fish-tail-like apex. 



Flowers from May to August. Moderately common on trees on the Belgaum 

 and North Kanara Ghats. 



There is also a variety with exceedingly slender stems and leaves and smaller 

 flowers. The lip in these has the basal lobes scarcely defined, the purple blotch 

 towards the base of the disk is oval with a very irregularly crenate margin, a 

 few scattered spots are continued towards the apex, which is devoid of any 

 purple suffusion, and the three calli on the forward part of the disk are very 

 short and broad. 



Distribution. — Western Peninsula, Ceylon. 



17. COTTONIA. 



Epiphyte. Stems bearing equitant, strap-shaped leaves which are 

 deeply bilobed at apex. Peduncles very long, erect, slender and wire- 

 like, bearing a few flowers in a crowded raceme at the top. Flowers 

 facing upwards, sepals subequal, patent, petals slightly narrower than 

 sepals, lip elongate fiddle-shaped, resembling a bee in shape and 

 coloration, column short, anther 2-celled, pollen in two cohering pear- 

 shaped pairs, caudicle long, narrow, gland small. 



1. Cottonia MACROSTachya, Wight. Fl. Br. Ind. VI, p. 26 ; 

 Cooke, Fl. of Bombay II, p. 702 ; Dalz. & Gibs., p. 263. 



Stem at first short, ultimately becoming about 6 inches long, 

 clothed with the sheathing petioles of fallen leaves. Leaves 4 to 8 

 inches long, leathery, dark green, strap shaped, lax, apex 2-lobed, 

 one lobe usually much larger than the other, peduncle one on each 

 plant usually single but sometimes branched, up to 2 feet long, green 

 or brown, wire-like, erect, flexuous, bracts scattered, small, brown. 

 Flowers f inch in diameter ; stalks with ovary up to f inch long, 

 sepals and petals brown with lighter longitudinal lines, dorsal sepal 

 oblong obtuse with a hooded tip, lateral ovate apiculate, petals as 

 9 



