80 . PETCH r 



dark crimson or purplish spots, and the lip nearly white, with 

 a red line at the base of the lamina. In Fl. Brit. India the sac 

 is said to be papillose within, but that detail is omitted in Fl. 

 Ceylon. No mention is made of any plate within the sac. 



Hooker suggested that Saccolabium Wightianum was 

 possibly not distinct from S. longifolmm. The distinguishing 

 characters given in the key to the genus Saccolabium in Flora 

 Ceylon are " S. longifolium, lip yellow," and " 8. Wightianum, 

 lip white." 



Saccolabium Wightianum. 



Saccolabium Wightianum was C. P. 2342. The figure, 

 shows leaves 16 "5-18 cm. long, of uniform breadth (2 cm.), the 

 apex deeply cut mto two unequal lobes, and flowers with a 

 white lip. It is said to be rare in Fl. Ceylon, and is recorded 

 only from Jaffna and Hantane. There are only two sheets in 

 Herb. Peradeniya, and some of the leaves on one are only 

 11 cm. in length, with tips barely incised. 



This species is not uncommon at Peradeniya (which lies just 

 below the Hantane range). On the fresh plants the leaves are 

 equal, 11-18 cm. long and 1*5-2 "5 cm. broad. The tips are 

 usually deeply incised, but the lobes vary in length, and are 

 equal or unequal on the same plant. The flower is about 1 cm. 

 in diameter. The sepals and petals are yellow, or greenish- 

 yellow, barred and spotted with red. On the sepals the red 

 colouration is usually in dots, arranged more or less in trans- 

 verse lines ; the petals are more definitely barred. The lip at 

 first is white, with purple transverse bars and sometimes a few 

 dots, in varying numbers. In some cases the lip bears five 

 bars, either complete from side to side, or extending only 

 halfway across, together with two or three -scattered dots ;*in 

 others the purple colour may be confined to a single dot near 

 the tip. But as the flower ages the lip becomes yellow, and 

 the bars and spots red. At the same time the sepals and 

 petals become more erect, and the transverse barring on them 

 appears more prominent. The lip, under a magnification of 

 eight diameters, appears minutely tuberculate. At its base 

 there is a small group of larger tubercles, and, following this 

 in the mouth of the sac, a triangular, erect, hairy tooth, which 



