116 ORCHIDS OF JAMAICA 



2-7-8 cm. br. Scape laxly few-flowered, about 10 cm. 1. Bracts, sterile 

 sheathing, ovate-oblong, acute or acuminate, 3-3 '5 cm. 1. ; floral linear, 

 acuminate, 2-5-3 cm. 1. Flowers yellowish-white, sweet-scented. Pedicels 

 about '5 cm. 1. Ovary about 1*8 cm. 1. Sepals 7-nerved ; median oblong, 

 tapering towards an acute apex, 1*8 cm. 1., 5 mm. br. ; lateral very oblique 

 and broad at base, falcately triangular-lanceolate, 2*2 cm. 1., 9 mm. br. 

 Petals 5-nerved, linear-oblong, tapering to apex, about 1*4 cm. 1., about 

 3*5 mm. br. Lip white, about 15-nerved, outline obovate-oblong, about 

 1*6 cm. 1., about 9 mm. br. ; terminal portion fleshy, warty, retuse, 

 4 mm. 1., 7 mm. br. ; sides incurved above, margin crisped ; disk with four 

 or Ave median nerves thickened, extending beyond the middle of the disk. 

 Column (from apex to end of foot) 1*4 cm. 1. 



2. X. staehyobiorum Hemsl. in Biol, Centr. Amer. Bot. Hi. 252 

 (1883) ; flowers rather more than -| in. 1., lateral sepals with 

 broad keel extending beyond apex, lip 3-lobed above. Maxillaria 

 staehyobiorum Beichb. f. in Bot. Zeit. x. 735 (1852). 



On peaty banks; in fl. Jan.-March; near Castleton, Fawcettl Silver 

 Hill, 3500 ft., Harris ! Nicaragua, Panama. 



Plant over 1 ft. high. Pseudobulb large, ovate, compressed, 5 -5-6 cm. 

 1., with two leaves. Leaves lanceolate to oblanceolate, acute or acuminate, 

 narrowed into the stalk, 30-45 cm. 1., 5-6 cm. br. Scape laxly many- 

 flowered, 14-17 cm. 1. Bracts, sterile sheathing, ovate-oblong, acute or 

 acuminate, about 3 cm. 1. ; floral subulate, about 1*5 cm. 1. Flowers cream- 

 coloured, irregularly speckled with brown. Pedicels 4-5 mm. 1. Ovary about 



I cm. 1. Sepals 5-nerved with less well-marked intermediate nerves, median 

 oblong-ovate, shortly acuminate, 14 mm. 1., about 4 mm. br. ; lateral 

 oblong-ovate, tapering and keeled towards apex, 15 mm. L, 5*5 mm. br. 

 Petals 5-nerved, oblong-lanceolate, apex somewhat acute and fleshy, falcate, 



II mm. 1., 3*5 mm. br. Lip with seven branching nerves, broadly oblong, 

 11 mm. 1., 7 mm. br., shallowly 3-lobed above, lateral lobes rounded, 

 terminal fleshy, broader than long, rounded, larger than lateral lobes ; 

 disk with the three or five median nerves elevated. Column (from apex 

 to end of foot) nearly 1 cm. 1. Capsule 2*5 cm. 1. 



46. ZYGOPETALUM Hook. 



Epiphytic herbs, stemless, leafy. Leaves membranous, with 

 numerous prominent veins, plaited. Scapes 1 -flowered. Sepals 

 nearly equal, spreading, free or scarcely very shortly connected 

 at the base, lateral attached to the short foot of the column. 

 Petals similar to the sepals. Lip attached to the foot of the column, 

 forming with it a very short chin ; lateral lobes erect, embracing 

 the column ; median lobe generally broad ; disk with a trans- 

 verse crest generally very prominent, fleshy. Column incurved, 

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

 oblique, entire, or membranous and hooded with fimbriate 

 margin. Anther opercular, incumbent, 2-celled ; pollinia 4, 

 obovoid, segregated in pairs in the cells, without an appendage. 

 Capsule ovoid or oblong, without a beak. 



Species about 90, natives of warmer America from the West 

 Indies and Central America to Brazil. 



