Dendrobi 11111.1 Orc/ltde^. 153 



Rootstock woody, nodose, with long vermiform roots; 

 stem 12-18 in., pendulous, as thick as a crowquill, hard, 

 slender, naked or clothed below with old leaf-sheaths, leafy 

 above, base sometimes swollen and obpyriform, internodes 

 |-i| in.; 1. distichous, sessile, 3-5 by about \ in., linear, 

 rigidly papery, striate, with 5 stronger and many slender 

 veins, tip obtuse, slightly incurved, sheaths tight, striate; 

 fl. 2-4 on leaf-opposed tubercles that burst through the 

 sheath much below its mouth ; pedicel with ov. -^ in. ; bract 

 at the base of the pedicel cupular; sep. about | in. long, 

 connivent with recurved tips, dorsal oblong, lateral ovate- 

 oblong, apiculate; mentum short, rounded at the tip, incurved; 

 pet. as long as the sep., linear-oblong; lip tongue-shaped, 

 quite entire, acute, glabrous, undulate; fr. f in. long, oblong, 

 narrowed at both ends, pedicel half as long. 



Montane zone; rare. Matale (Gardner); Dolosbagie; Knuckles Hills. 

 Fl. July (?); yellow, the lip tinged with dark red. 

 Also in Malabar. 



8. 1>. IHacarthiaB,-^ Thw. m Bot. Mag. t. 4886 (1855). Wesak- 

 mal, S. 



Thw. Enum. 297. Veitch, Man. Dendrob. 57. C. P. 3462. 



Fl. B. Ind. V. 736. Veitch, I.e. 58. Warner, Orch. Alb. vii. t. 319. 



Stems 1-2 ft., tufted on a densely rooting rootstock, slender, 

 terete, pendulous, base tuberous, internodes \\-2 in.; 1. 

 2^-4 in., lanceolate, acuminate, membranous; sheaths ap- 

 pressed, green, mottled with brown ; racemes 2-4 in., leaf- 

 opposed, laxly 2-4-fld. ; ped. stout, with short, obtuse, 

 imbricate basal sheaths; bracts \-\ in., lanceolate, brown; 

 pedicel with ov. \ in. or less, curved; fl. 2J-3 in. long; sep. 

 erect, lanceolate, acuminate; mentum short, conical, straight; 

 pet. broader and rather shorter, ovate-oblong, acuminate; tip 

 rounded ; lip subpathulate, side lobes rounded, convolute, 

 mid lobe broadly ovate, cuspidate. 



Forests in the moist region below 2000 ft. ; rare. Ambagamuwa : 

 Sabaragamuwa Prov. in many places ; Hewesse. Fl. May-July, during 

 the heavy south-west rains ; clear violet-pink, the lip paler but veined 

 and bordered with deep pink and with a large purple blotch on the disk ; 

 rarely all white, with a faint purple stain on lip. 



Endemic. 



Certainly the handsomest of Ceylon Orchids, and of late years so 

 much collected for export as to have become very scarce in places 

 which formerly produced abundance. The Sinhalese name means 

 ' May-flower,' from its time of flowering. 



* Named in honour of Mrs. (afterwards Lady) MacCarthy, wife of 

 C. J. MacCarthy, Colonial Secretary (afterwards Governor, as Sir J. C), 

 of Ceylon. 



