Ponera australis Cogniaux in Martius FI. Bras. 3, pt. 
5 (1898) 9, t. 5. 
Ponera geraensis Rodrigues in Contr. Jard. Bot. Rio 
de Janeiro 4 (1907) 108, t. 28, fig. C. 
Sobralia polyphylla Wrinzlin in Vidensk. Medd. fra 
Dansk. Naturh. Foren. 71 (1920) 173. 
This species is easily distinguished by the large bracts 
which subtend the sessile inflorescences, both terminal 
and lateral. The flowers, which are variable in size, are 
rather thinin texture and are usually marked with bright 
purple, light reddish brown or violet stripes. The lip is 
provided with a short claw and is typically cuneate-oblong 
and deeply emarginate. However, the lip may vary some- 
what in shape, often being pandurate-cuneate with the 
lateral margins sigmoid, or may even appear to be shal- 
lowly 8-lobed when the upecurved margins of the basal 
portion are spread out. 
Lindley, in describing P. striata, wrote: ‘‘When old 
the stems become leafless, are closely covered with rug- 
ged sheaths, and produce here and there from their axils 
clusters of two or three sessile flowers, ... both sepals 
and petals being striped with bright reddish-brown. ... 
The labellum is wedge-shaped, slightly downy, curved 
downwards in the middle, and two-lobed at the apex.’’ 
Ponera punctulata would seem to be referable to this 
concept. Reichenbach said that the flowers were about 
equal to those of P. striata but were greenish white with 
many dark violet spots instead of being striped with red- 
dish brown. Reichenbach further stated that the lip of 
P. punctulata was cuneate, dilated and retuse at the apex, 
and obscurely 8-lobed in front of the base. As pointed out 
above, it is possible to produce a 38-lobed effect with the 
lip of some specimens of P. striata if the basal margins are 
spread out. 
Cogniaux’s plate showing P. australis is what we con- 
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