POLYSTACHYA. 



ORCHIDES. 643 



bu8 florem aequantibus vel superantibus, petiolis obovato-oblongis glabris, labello 

 lato-oblongo revoiuto medio longitudinaiiter vilioso , lobo medio subrotundo. Flores 

 Davi, sepaia basi brunnea. labeili lobi laterales intus brunnei. 



21. POLYSTACHYA RAMULOSA Lindl. Bot. Reg. XXIV. (1838.) Misc. 142: 

 Ebulbis, foliis .... — , scapo paniculato, floribus glaberrimis, sepalorum 



basi conica eloneata, labello cuneato trifido apice carnoso margine in- 

 voluto,, lobis acutis intermedio minore , disco plano imberbi. 



SierraLeone, whence it was imported by Messrs. Loddiges, who flw. it in Septb. 1838. 

 It is a small green flowered plant , wiih ihe habit of Polystachya luteola, but more 

 branched, and with branchlels at the base of ils ramiflcations. The smooth flowers, 

 prolonged at the apex (that is to say , at the base of the sepals) into a long cone, 

 and ihe wedge-shaped naked lip , distinguish this from the oiher species previously 

 known. The apparatus connected with ihe pollenmasses is very remarkable; in this 

 plant the masses are two waxy bodies obliquely divided half-way into two very un- 

 equal lobes, and adhering to a long white wedge-shaped separate process, which has 

 all ihe appearance of the caudicula of a Vandeous genus , and which is moreover al- 

 lached to a minute sepsrable gland ; a trace of this siructure also exists in P. lu- 

 teola, and is probably what Sir W. Hooker saw when making the drawing of Ex. Fl. 

 At flrst sight a fact like this would appear either to weaken the value of the distinction 

 by which 0. pl. of the Vandeae are separated from those of the Malaxid. division, or 

 to render it necessary to transfer Polystachya frora the latter to the former. But 

 upon an aitentive examination of the structure of the process in question , it is seen, 

 that it is not a cartilaginous elastic strap , adhering to a hard gland wilh a well de- 

 fined outline, but a collection of large cells, loosely cohering, very convex, and fllled 

 with air; while the representation of the gland is a small hemispherical succulent 

 mass , to which the cellules adhere. This process may therefore be regarded as a 

 mere modiflcation of the shapeless viscid matter to which the poUenmasses of 

 many Malaxideous genera are attached. 



22. POLYSTACHYA PDBESCENS Rchb. fll. Huc : Epiphora Lindl. in Comp. Bot. Mag. 

 N. 19. p. 201 : 



Perianthium explanatum, labello postico. Sepala libera , lateralia 

 aequalia. Petala forma diversa. Labellum carinatum , trilobum , cum 

 columna sigmoideo-unguiculatum. Columna dorso prona , inversa, stig- 

 mate verlicali, margine triluberculato, basi paulo producta et cum iabello 

 articulata. Anthera unilocularis. Pollinia 4, caudiculae iineari affixa. 

 Herba epipbyta, Polystachyae facie, subbulbosa. Racemi terminales. 

 Epiphora pubescens Lindl. I. c. : 



Super arbores inter Kovi et Kaprivier , also near Graham's Town Burchell. Epi- 

 phyta palmaris. Folia bina , oblongo-Iinearia , plana, apice paulo obliqua. Racemus 

 terminalis, folio longior, 7— Sflorus, cum ovariis pubescens. Flores verosimiliter lutei. 

 Sepala lateralia lanceolata, acutissima, nullo modo obliqua ; supremum oblongo-li- 

 neare , concavum apiculatum. Petala paulo breviora, plana, obovata , obtusissima. 

 Labellum pagina superiore nuda. 



I hardly know , where to station this very distinct genus. Its habit is that of Po- 

 lyslachya, but it belongs to Vandeae. Perhaps it had best be placed near Maxillaria, 

 on account of the protracte base of the column ; but there is no obliquity whatever 

 in the lateral sepals. To Cymbidium it likewise approaches, but its labellum and 

 very curious column distinguish it from all the members of that heterogenous 

 genus. Il was found by Mr. Burcbell in the Caffre Country and is N. 3590 of his 

 Herbar. 



Lindl. Bot. Reg. XXVI. (1840.) Misc. 103 ; Originally found by Dr. Burchell in the 

 Cafl^re country, afterwards collected by Drege , has lately flowered with Mesrrs. Lod- 

 diges, who iraported it from Delagoa Bay. It grows about 6" high , and has an 



8i* 



