168 A FLORA OF MANILA 
and showy, white or variously colored. Sepals subequal, the lateral ones 
obliquely adnate to the foot of the column, and forming with it a sac. Lip 
contracted at the base, rarely clawed, adnate to the foot of the column, the 
side-lobes embracing the column, or spreading, or none, the terminal lobe 
flat to saccate. Column short, the foot long or short. Anther 2-celled; 
pollinia 4, in pairs in each cell. (Greek “tree” and “life,” from the 
epiphytic habit of the species.) 
Species nearly 600, tropical Asia through Malaya to Australia, and 
Polynesia, about 50 in the Philippines. 
1, D. crumenatum Sw. White Dove Orchid. 
Stems fascicled, glabrous, elongated, up to 1 m in length, slender, the 
basal bulbs 8 to 12 em long, about 2 cm thick. Leaves scattered, distichous, 
oblong, obtuse, 5 to 8 em long and 1.5 to 2.5 em wide. Flowers fugacious, 
appearing on the upper parts of the stems at the nodes, white, the center 
pale-yellow, very fragrant, solitary or somewhat fascicled, 2.5 to 3 cm long, 
lasting a day or less. 
Occasional on trees, Santa Mesa to San Juan del Monte, also commonly 
cultivated, fl. at intervals, all the plants in the same region flowering the 
same day; widely distributed in the Philippines. Indo-China to Malaya. 
6. OBERONIA Lindley 
Tufted, usually small, epiphytic plants with distichous, equitant, flattened 
leaves. Flowers very numerous, minute, in dense, often cylindric, solitary 
spikes or racemes terminating the leafy stems. Sepals broadly ovate or 
oblong, subequal, the petals smaller. Lip sessile, concave, entire or 2- to 
4-lobed. Column very short; anther terminal, incumbent; pollinia 4, waxy, — 
cohering. (After Oberon, king of the fairies.) 
Species about 90, tropical Asia to the Mascarene Islands through Malaya 
to Australia and Polynesia, about 13 in the Philippines. 
1. O. merrillii Ames. 
A small, tufted, glabrous plant 9 cm high or less, with many fibrous 
roots, stemless, or with very short stems. Leaves fleshy, flattened, ensiform, 
acute, 2.7 to 7 cm long, about 5 mm wide, shorter than the inflorescence. 
Peduncle slender, 7 to 12 cm long, the spike 4 to 9 cm long, about 4 mm in 
diameter, with numerous small bracts below the flower-bearing part. 
Flowers minute, reddish, verticillate or subverticillate, the verticels 2 to 3 
mm apart, short-pedicelled. Sepals 1 mm long or less. Petals suborbicular, 
about 0.75 mm in diameter, the lip 3-lobed, as long as the petals, the lateral 
lobes minute, smaller than the middle one. 
On santol trees, Masambong and along the Novaliches Road, fl. Nov.; of 
very local occurrence in Luzon. Endemic. 
Subclass 2. DICOTYLEDONEAE: Plants producing seeds with two coty- 
ledons. 
33. CASUARINACEAE (CASUARINA.OR AGOHO FAMILY) 
Leafless trees, the branchlets cylindric, grooved, jointed, the internodes 
terminating in short sheaths of connate subulate scales (reduced leaves). 
Flowers unisexual. Staminate flowers in terminal spikes formed of short, 
superposed, toothed cups; sepals 1 or 2, concave, circumsciss at the base; 
stamen 1, inflexed in bud. Pistillate flowers in ovoid or globose heads, 
bracteate and 2-bracteolate; ovary minute, 1-celled; style 2-fid; the arms 
stigmatose to the base; ovules 2, collateral. Fruit an ovoid or oblong cone 
