ORCIIIDE.K 173 



tapcrin!? to a finely forked extremity. At the back of the lip, between the lateral 

 lobes, is a large ousliion-liko oval eallus, and there is also a hioiip on the middle loho. 

 A strikingly different plant from C. macrui<t(uliii<x, for which see Wight's Icones, tab. 

 1755. The only other known habitat for this phint is Hong-Kong. The flowers 

 are -J of an inch across, dingy yellow, with a white and purple lip. 



TlilCIIOGLOTTIS, Bl. 



A small genus of Vanda-liko habit. Leaves long, distichous. Flower-stalks 

 axillary or leaf opposed, few-flowered. Pollen masses 2, stipes naiTOW, gland broad, 

 peltate. Species 1. 



PiiAL.E.N-orsis, III. 



Sepals and petals spreading, free ; petals much the largest. Lip connate with 

 the sliglitly produced base of the column, free, ;3-lobed, with variously-shaped callosities 

 at the base. Column half round. Pollen-masses 2, bi-lobed, attuclicd by a strap- 

 shaped stipes to a heart-shaped gland. Stemless epiphytes, generally with 2 or 3, 

 somelimes 4 leaves, which are large, broad and fleshy. Flower-stem from the short 

 axis of the plant, 1 or more. Flowers large and showy. Species 4. 



P. Lowii. 



Stemless. Leaves 2, 3 or 4, very variable in size, from 3 inches x 1 to 6-7 

 inches X 2, ovate-lanceolate, fleshy, pointe<l. Hoots fleshy, flat, extending to a great 

 length. Scape long, 8 to 12 inches, slender, 1 or more, 4 or 8 flowered. Flowers 

 distant, large, li X 2.\ inches across, white, sutt'used with rose. The upper sepal is 

 larger than the two lateral ones. The petals are very broad and rounded, tapering 

 inwards into a wedge-shaped elaw. The lip, which is violet, is 3-lobed, and eijuals 

 the lateral sepals in length. The side lobes are erect, somewhat square, with a reilexed 

 point ; middle lobe oblong, pointed and ridged lengthwise. The rostellum or beak 

 (the prolonged point of the column) is very much lengthened, and when the anther, 

 which is also lengthened, lies in its place upon it, the whole has the ajipearance of 

 an elephant's trunk, as one often sees it nearly touching the ground with the end 

 np. A very lovely plant, discovered by me on limestone rocks near Maulmain about 

 1860. It grows on the rocks and on the small bushes that clothe the rocks. It 

 varies exceedingly in size, and in the number of flowers which one plant will bear. 

 Ordinarily, a plant has 1 flowcr-stera with 4 or 5 flowers on it, but I once found 

 a plant which had 3 flower-stems and 8 flowers on each, 24 in all, and the individual 

 flowers were 25 inches across. The roots spread for a long distance, 2 or 3 feet, and 

 adhere so firmly along their whole length to the shrub or rock on which the plant 

 grows, that it is quite impossible to detach without lacerating them. The consequence 

 is that removal irretrievably damages the plants. They live, indeed, if attached to a 

 tree again, but they take years to I'ecover their original size and beauty, as they are 

 of exceedingly slow growth. 



P. Pnrixhii is a much smaller plant, but very pretty, and has a highly curious lip ; 

 indeed, the appendages of the labellum of the genus Phal/rnnpniii are so various and 

 strangely elaborate in iovm as to batfle description. Pluildnopxin cortm-ccrvi (called 

 Pulijchilos in Pnf. Jfdfl.) has flowers barred with red. P. iri(//itii is smaller again 

 than P. Pnrisliii. Perhaps yet other species of this beautiful genus may reward a 

 diligent search. 



YAxnA,' n. Br. 

 This genus contains some of the most niagniticent Oi'chids of which the Eastern 

 ILMuisphen^ can boast. Not a tew are of very largo size. They are all epiphytal, 

 and have distichous leaves, which are often thick and leathery, and more or less strap- 

 shaped. The flowers are borne in lateral, erect or ])enduh)us, racemes. The sepals 

 and petals are wide-spreading and resemble each other. The lip is saccate or spurred, 

 and fleshy, entire or 3-lobed, continuous with the base of the column. Uolunm 



' "Vaiiila," according to Sh' Win. Jones, is the Hindoo name for V. Itoxbiitgii, the orifrinal species. 



