SEEAPHYTA 81 



28. SERAPHYTA Fisch. & Mey. 



Epiphytic herb. Stems leafy, sheathed at the base, scarcely 

 fleshy. Leaves leathery, elliptical, oblong or lanceolate, in two 

 ranks along the stem, with sheaths tightly adpressed. Panicle 

 terminal, laxly and thinly branched, with small stalked flowers 

 laxly racemose along the branches. Bracts minute. Sepals 

 nearly equal, free, acute, somewhat spreading. Petals narrowly 

 linear, nearly as long as the sepals, spreading. Claw of the lip 

 as long as the column, with which it is connate forming a cup ; 

 limb broadly ovate-cordate, undivided, spreading ; disc with a 

 callus at the mouth of the cup. Column short, the wings 

 forming a cup with the claw of the lip, foot wanting ; clinandrium 

 short, lateral lobes roundish, median obsolete. Anther terminal 

 between the lateral lobes, opercular, incumbent, subglobose, 

 thick and fleshy at the back, as if appendaged, 2-celled anteriorly, 

 each cell divided again into two cells ; pollinia 4, waxy, ovoid- 

 globose, distinct, without an appendage, connected in pairs by a 

 somewhat copious viscid substance elastically extensible into 

 two threads, and often attached to the rostellum. Capsule 

 broadly ellipsoidal, somewhat beaked, the ribs scarcely prominent. 



Species 1, native of the West Indies, Mexico, Colombia and 

 Surinam. 



S. diffusa Pfitz. in Engl. & Prantl Nat. Pflanzenf. ii. 6, 142 

 (1889). S. multiflora Fisch. & Mey. in Bull. Sc. Acad. Petersb. mi. 

 24 (1840). Epidendrum diffusum Sw. Prodr. 121 (1788) & Fl. 

 hid. Occ. 1503; Lindl. Gen. & Sp. Orch. 102 & Fol, Orch. Epi- 

 dendr. 88 ; Hook, in Pot. Mag. t. 3565 ; Griseb. Fl. Br. W. hid. 

 619. (PI. 14, f. 1-3.) 



On trees; in fl. Sept.-Jan., in fr. Dec, Jan., July; Swartzl Mac- 

 fadyen ! Manchester and St. Mary, Purdie ! Fairfield, Wullschlaegel, 1052 ! 

 March I Moneague, Priori Blue Mts., 2000-5000 ft. J.P. 30, Morris ! 

 Blue Mts., Mrs. Maclaverty ! near Browns Town, Miss T. M. Barrett ! 

 Cinchona, Plaxton ! Arntully, Miss Sabonadie're ! Ramble, Hanover ; near 

 Gordon Town ; Faivcett ! Ramble, Claremont, Fawcett & Harris ! Walder- 

 ston, Mrs. Longstaffl Cold Spring ; Belvedere, Hanover, 500 ft. ; Lancaster ; 

 Clydesdale, 3500 ft. ; Maryland ; Troy, 1600 ft. ; Harris ! Lyndhurst, 

 near Green Vale, Harris & Britton ! Fl. Jam. 7625, 7656, 7770, 10,394, 

 10,447, 10,623. Cuba, Mexico, Colombia, Surinam. 



Plant 7-27 in. higb. Stem 3-30 cm. 1. Leaves 3-6 cm. 1., 1- 5-3 '5 cm. 

 br. Panicle 1-3*5 cm. 1. Bracts deltoid, acute, 1-2 mm. 1. Pedicels 

 1-3 mm. 1. Flowers yellowisb-green, drying red, periantb about ^ in. 1. 

 Sepals 3-nerved, linear-lanceolate, subacute, 7' 5 mm. 1., lateral somewbat 

 oblique, 2*25 mm. br., median 1*75 mm. br. Petals 1-nerved, obtuse, 

 7 mm. 1., "65 mm. br. Lip as long as lateral sepals, median nerve promi- 

 nent below and forming a mucro at apex, limb about 5 mm. 1., 3*5 mm. br. 

 Column 2*5 mm. 1. Capsule 13-18 mm. 1. 



G 



