5.5 cm. latis; scapo erecto, plurivaginato, infra glabro, supra 
puberulo, tertia parte superiori laxe paucifloro; bracteis linea- 
ri-lanceolatis, acuminatis, Ovariis duplo superantibus, usque 
ad 5.5 cm. longis; floribus speciosis, extus puberulis; sepalis 
inter se in tubum arcuato-cylindricum breviter connatis, de- 
inde liberis, arcuato-patentibus; sepalo postico anguste 
lanceolato-elliptico, acuminato, usque ad 35 + 5 mm. longo, 7 
mm. lato; sepalis lateralibus lineari-lanceolatis, acuminatis, 
usque ad 35 + 5mm. longis, 5 mm. latis; petalis e cuneata basi 
falcato-dolabriformibus, acuminatis, omnino glabris, usque ad 
35 + 5 mm. longis, 7 mm. latis; labello porrecto, naviculari, 
apice recurvo, basi biauriculato-sagittato, usque ad 35 mm. 
longo, 10 mm. lato; columna arcuata, facie puberula, usque ad 
18 mm. longa; rostello prominenti, 3-lobo, 2 mm. longo, 3 mm. 
lato; ovario cylindrico, puberulo, torto, usque ad 3.5 cm. 
longo. 
Colombia: Depto. del Cauca, near lake El Tambo, Munchi- 
que, K. VON SNEIDERN 731! type! (S). 
Cyclopogon Presl, Rel. Haenk. |: 93, t.13, f-1, 1827. 
Etymology: Kyklos = circle and pogon = tail [1.e., of fire], 
with divided ends, in reference to the (reddish?) 
sepals which arise in a circle from a tube, like 
tails of fire with divided ends. 
Type: Cyclopogon ovalifolium Presl. 
The diagnostic features of the genus Cyclopogon for the past 
125 years have been completely misunderstood. Cyclopogon 
was generally regarded a synonym of Spiranthes since 1840, 
when Lindley transferred it in his Genera and Species of Or- 
chidaceous Plants. In 1920, Schlechter reinstated it in his study 
of the Spiranthianae, with a rather detailed generic circum- 
scription. Unfortunately both of these students of orchidology 
overlooked the fact that Haenke’s illustrations show a peculiar 
character, albeit not mentioned in the original description, 
namely, the sepals are connate with one another to form a 
distinct sepaline tube. 
Recently I have seen several collections from Ecuador and 
Peru referable to C. ovalifolium which | intended to describe as 
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