OltriJIDE.F. IGl 



E. OBESA. 



rsoudo-ljunis shoit, ovate, plump, about 2 to 3 inches liigli, 3 or 4 together, 

 their rather tiattened sidts toucliinc; each otlier. Leaves 4 or 5, hegiiiniiig from 

 near the base, and terminating (eaeli) a l)road sheath, which ehisps the bulb all round. 

 Tliese sheaths slojio alteruately to riglit and loft, and are striated, or marked with 

 lines, as are also the bulbs, which are somewhat constricted at the internodes. 

 Flowers small, i inch, almost colourless, forming a raceme of 3 or 4, with large 

 ovate reflcxcd bractes at the junction of the stalks. 



E. ExsrracTOKiA. 



Pseudo-bulbs round, flattened and even depressed on the top, growing in small 

 crowded patches, about j inch across and the same in height, bearing, when fully 

 matured in the rainy season, one small ovate pointed leaf in the centre. Before the 

 dry season has well set in, and the plant flowers (the only time when it is likelj' to 

 attract attention), these have fallen olf and, in its place, exactly in the axis of the 

 bulb, stands a slender cnct peduncle or flower-stalk about 2 inches high, which, 

 gradually swelling into the germ, tcruiiuates in a solitary flower, about .' inch long. 

 Upper sepal ovate, acute, lateral sepals of the same general shayie, but produced 

 downwards and aduate to the prolonged column which ends in a blunt, rounded, or 

 slightly notched spur. Petals smaller, lanceolate. Lip o-lobed, middle lobe largo, 

 and itself 2-lolicd, the segments lounded, lateral lobes smaller, rounded and erenate. 

 The lip tapers into a claw, which is attached to the foot of the column, and has 3 

 raised lines or ridges along its length. Colour white, tinged with pink ; the 3 

 papillose ridges of the lip and the intermediate space are orange-yellow, with just 

 a tinge of pink. Base of the column inside, yellow. Spur greenish. Anther 

 blotched with deep red on each side. I have here given the colour, as seen and 

 carefully drawn by myself. I consider the figure in Bot. Mag. much too highly 

 coloured, and the pollen-masses to be incorrectly drawn by the artist. I find them 8, 

 but in 2 bundles of 4 nearly round united by their suddenly tapering caudicles in 

 the normal manner of the genus, by an elastic cobwebby substance. On the subject 

 of leafless Orchids I have a word or two to ofler. Several small species have been 

 dcscril)ed as leafless which are not really so. This plant, with Drijmoda pida, Bulho- 

 phyllum nioiuliforme, and others, has leaves. But they must be looked for at the 

 right season, viz. in the rains. In the dry or flowering season, when they are 

 generally sought for and gatliered, no trace of leaf is to be seen, "^'ight (Icones, 

 No. 1741) figures and descnhes Cliedoihista unneoides as a leafless epiphyte. Whether 

 this plant be really so or not I cannot .say, as I am not ac(]uainted with it ; but wo 

 have a small Orchid {2'/in'.i:y:fi nnim himfirnm), whidi, for the gn aterpart of the year, 

 consists simply of a bundle of roots, growing from a common centre, which centre 

 hardly presents a trace of stem. In this state it resembles Wiglit's plant. In the 

 dry season a long i-aceme of small flowers grows forth from this axis, and in this 

 state it is generally found; but if it be watched throughout the rains, two small 

 leaves (about 1 inch lung), lanceolate and ])oiuted, will be seen to be ]iiodnced at the 

 same axis. I think it very probable that if C/iei/uc/iista were watched with e(iual 

 care, leaves would be found. The only really leaili ss Orchid with which 1 aui 

 acquainted is Guhola, which will be described in its proper place. 



E. VESTILA, sp. afF. 



A very different-looking plant from either of the preceding ones. Stems tufted, 

 a foot or more long, pendulous, about the diameter of a lead-pencil, very dry and 

 liard near their base, where they are generally leatlcss, being leafy ouly for about | of 

 their length ; leaves lanceolate, acute, 3-4 inches long and 1 , or a little more, broad, 

 fleshy, profu.sely covered with soft rufous hairs on both sides, making them velvety 

 to the touch. Racemes axillary, very short, consisting of 3 or 4 flowers only. The 

 short hairy flower-stalk is rather zigzag and bears 5 or 6 ovate pointed bracts, the 

 2 or 3 lower of which are without flowers. Flowers sessile in the superior ones, 

 J inch long. Dorsal sepal linear, lateral sepals broad, connate below and forming 

 a blunt spur. Petals narrow, linear, about the same length as the sepals, showing 



VUL. II. 11 



