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XV. Account of Gamoplexis, an undescribed Genus of Orchideous Plants. 

 By Hugh Falconer, M.D., F.L.S. ^c. 



Read Febraary 2nd, 1847. 



Ord. Nat. Orchide^. 

 Trib. GASTRODiiE, R. Br. 



Gamoplexis. 



Char. Gen. Perianthium monophyllum, tubulosum, basi ventricoaum, limbi breviter 6- 

 lobi segmenta rotundata; exteriora aequalia; interiorum posticum, pedicelli torsione 

 anticum, (labellare) lateralibus paulo majus caeteroquin consimile. Columna elongata, 

 erecta, semiteres, marginato-dilatata, apice tridentata cava, basi antice incrassata stig- 

 matifera. Anthera terminalis, mobilis, decidua, carnosa, bilocularis, loculis parallelis 

 contiguis. Masste pollinis in utroque loculo solitariae, e lobulis majusculis granulatis 

 laxe cohaerentibus conflatae. Glandula aut caudicula nulla. 



Herba parasitica (?), aphylla, vaginata, rufescens, habitu Orobanchem quamdam omninb re- 

 ferens. Rhizoma hypogaeum, tuberosum, annulatum, spongiosum. Racemus elongatus, 

 multiflorus, pnmd nutans, demum erectus. Flores mediocres, erecti, pallid^ stramineo- 

 virides vel ochroleuci. 



Gamoplexis Orobanchoides (Falc. MSS. cit. in Royle, Illustrat. p. 364, et in Lindley, 

 Genera and Spec, of Orchid. Plant, p. 384, absque charactere aut definitione. 



Hab. In umbrosis humidis inter montes Emodenses ad altitudinem circiter 7000 pedum 

 supra mare ; Dhunaultee, Tyne-Teeba, Simla, &c. Floret Julio et Augusto. 



Descr. Herba terrestris, tripedalis, omnino laevis, erecta, rigida, aphylla, vaginato-squamata, 

 rufescens, ad arborum radices inter folia putrida passim obvia. Rhizoma hypogaeum, 

 tuberosum, ovoideo-oblongum, depressum, crebre annulatum, annularum marginibus 

 membrana scariosa lacera adpressa (vaginarum rudimento) instructis, nunc fibrillis 

 radicum alienarum supra reticulatis et superficialiter accretis utrinque tectum, ideo- 

 que ut videtur parasiticum, longitudinaliter in humo stratum, ab altera extremitate 

 gemmam scapigeram, ab altera viviparam (rhizomatiferam) proxima messe in plantam 

 evolvendam, proferens: fabrica penitiore carnoso-spongiosum, medio laxissime cel- 



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