

62 



ERIA convallarioides. 

 The Close-headed Woolwort. 



GYNANDRIA MONANDRIA. 

 Nat. ord. OrchidaceyE, § Malaxed. 

 ERIA. Botanical Register, vol. W.fol. 904. 



§ Tonsse ; inflorescentid glabrd v. leviter pubescente. 



E. convallarioides ; caulibus compressis junioribus dense, et laxe vaginatis, 

 foliis oblongo-lanceolatis multinerviis, racemis densissimis oblongis cer- 

 nuis breviter pedunculatis, floribus subglobosis leviter pubescentibus, 

 labello subcordato ovato acuto inappendiculato. 



Eria convallarioides. Lindl. in Wall. Cat. no. 1975. Gen. §■ Sp. Orch. no. 25. 



Pinalia. Lindl. orch. seel. n. 71. p. 23. c. ic. 



Pinalia alba. Hamilton mss. apud Don Prodr. 



Octomeria spicata. Don Prodr. 31. 



Octomeria convallarioides. Wallich in ic. Bibl. Anglo-Indiccc, n. 1141. 



For fresh specimens of this plant. I am indebted to Mr. 

 Rogers and Messrs. Loddiges, both of whom have succeeded 

 in flowering it. From the examination of dried specimens I 

 was at one time inclined to regard it as the type of a genus 

 distinct from Eria ; but that was evidently an erroneous im- 

 pression, for there are no marks in the plant at all at variance 

 with those proper to Eria in its common state. It has small 

 whitish flowers, collected in close heads in the axils of broad 

 striated leaves ; they have no smell, and the species proves 

 much less pretty than was expected. The specific character 

 in the work above quoted, made up chiefly from bad Indian 

 drawings, requires considerable correction, especially as re- 

 gards the flowers, which are nearly destitute of hairs, and the 

 lip, which is entire, and not 3-toothed. I also find that the 

 anther is not dorsal, but merely contracts towards the back of 

 the column, so as to expose the pollen-masses. 



The specific name Convallarioides is by no means well 

 applied ; alluding to the form and not the smell of the flowers ; 



