48 ORCHIDS OF JAMAICA 



19. POLYSTACHYA Hook. 



Kpiphytie herbs. Stems Leafy, short.. Bheathed at the base, 

 sometimes thickened into slender pseudobulbs. Leaves few, 

 in fcwo ranks, oblong-ligulate, many-nerved bu\ do1 plaited, 



(out parted at the base into sheaths and jointed with them. 

 Peduncle terminal, with a few sheaths above the leaf. Raceme 

 terminal on the leafy stem, simple, or several short racemes 

 along a common rachis forming a narrow lax panicle. Flowers 

 small. Bracts small. Sepals connivent, median free, lateral 

 broader, at the base attached to the foot of the column. Petals 

 narrow. Lip on the upper side of the flower, jointed with the 

 foot of the column, at the base contracted, incumbent, then 

 erect; 3-lobed ; lateral lobes but little prominent, erect, median 

 spreading or recurved, undivided. Column very short, not 

 winged, produced at the base into a foot; clinandrium short, 

 truncate. Anther terminal, opercular, incumbent, very convex, 

 1-celled or imperfectly 2-celled ; pollinia 4, waxy, broadly ovate, 

 lightly adpressed in pairs, or connate into 2, not appencliculate, 

 affixed to a short stalk or gland. Capsule oblong. 



Species about 170, natives chiefly of tropical and south 

 Africa, some of India and Malaya, a few of tropical America. 



Flowers with very prominent chin 1. P. minuta. 



Flowers smaller, with chin not prominent 2. P. minor. 



1. P. minuta Britton hi Small FL S.E. Un. St. 328 (1903); 

 lateral lobes of lip oblong, sometimes subfalcate, obtuse ; sinus 

 above middle of lip ; callus extending along the median nerve from 

 the base to the middle. P. luteola Hook. Exot. Fl. t. 103 (1825) ; 

 Lindl. Gen. & Sp. Orch. 73 (in part, excl. syn. P. mauritiana) ; 

 Griseb. Fl. Br. W. Ind. 628. P. extinctoria & P. luteola Beichb.f. 

 in Waljp. Ann. Bot. vi. 638, 639 (1861). Helleborine ramosa 

 ike. Plum. PL Amer. (Burm.) t. 185,/. 1. Epidendrum minutum 

 Alibi. PL Guian. it. 824 (1775). Dendrobium polystachyum 

 Sw. in Vet. Handl. Stochh. xxi. 247 (1800) ; Lindl. Coll. Bot. t. 20 

 (non Thouars & A. Bich.). Cranichis luteola Sw. Fl. Ind. Occ. 

 1433 (1806). (PI. 7, f. 4, 5.) 



On trees and rocks; in fl. and fr. Nov. to April; Wilson ! Fairfield, 

 Wullschlaegel 1055 (partly) ! J. P. 21, 22, Morris ! Moneague, Lady Blake ! 

 Content Road, Campbell ! Mavis Bank, 2000 ft., 7765, Harris ! Cuba, 

 Hispaniola, Porto Rico, St. Thomas, St. Eustatius, Dominica, Martinique, 

 St. Lucia, St. Vincent, Grenada, Trinidad, Florida, Mexico, Guatemala, 

 Colombia, B. Guiana, Surinam, F. Guiana, Brazil, Peru. 



Plant 8-14 in. high. Pseudobulb about 3 cm. 1. Leaves acute or 

 somewhat obtuse, sometimes slightly oblique, 10-20 cm. 1., 12-28 mm. br. 

 Panicle 1-5-3 dm. 1., generally longer than the leaves. Bracts triangular, 

 acuminate, 2 mm. 1. Flowers yellowish-green, perianth \ in. 1., and 

 somewhat broader ; buds very obliquely 3-cornered, apex somewhat acute. 



