1 68 Orchidece. \Alvisia. 



long, suberect, woolly; bracts ^-i in., oblong, obtuse woolly; 

 fl. subsessile; sep. \ in. long, coriaceous, woolly or tomentose, 

 dorsal oblong, obtuse, lateral broadly ovate-oblong, obtuse, 

 decurved; mentum rounded, strongly incurved; pet. linear, 

 subacute, glabrous; lip shorter than the sep., tongue-shaped, 

 recurved, fleshy, tomentose, side lobes very small, mid lobe 

 small, ovate, obtuse; column very short, broad; anth. pu- 

 bescent on the crown; fr. \ in. long, ellipsoid, shortly pedi- 

 celled. 



Moist region, 2-6000 ft.; rare. Dolosbagie (Thwaites); near Hakgala 

 ■(Nock); Ballangoda (Lewis). Fl. October-January ; pale dull yellow. 



Endemic. 



E. profusa, Lindl., is another of Nightingale's orchids said to have 

 been obtained in Ceylon (Bot. Reg. 1842, Misc. 2). It flowered at Sion 

 in 1841. Nothing more is known of it. 



13. AIiVISZA,-^ Lituil. 



Pseudobulbs small, sessile on a slender rootstock, 1-2- 



leaved; 1. sessile, small; ped.- terminal on the pscudobulb, 



erect, filiform, flexuous ; fl. distant in an elongate spike, minute ; 



sep. shortly connate at the base, dorsal Hnear-oblong, obtuse, 



apiculate, recurved, mid vein broad, lateral connivent, falcately 



ovate, strongly upcurved beyond the middle, very obtuse, 



bases confluent together and with the long foot of the column 



in a broad deep sac (mentum) ; pet. half as long as the sep. ; 



lip very small, inserted on the foot of the column, claw broad, 



sigmoid, dilated into an obcordate, fleshy limb; column very 



minute, depressed, with the two projecting incurved arms in 



front; anth. minute, 2-lobed, 2-cellcd, pollinia 8, obovoid, 



waxy, free. — Monotypic. 



A. tenuis, Litidl. Fol. Orchid. Alvis. (1859). 



Thw. I'^num. 300. Eria articulata, Lindl. in Journ. Linn. Soc. iii. 47. 

 C. P. 2655. 



Fl. B. Ind. V. 78S. 



Pseudobulbs j-i in., ellipsoid or subglobose; 1. sessile. 

 |-i in., broadly oblong or oblanceolate, apiculate, 5-veined, 

 membranous, dark green ; pcd. with the long erect flexuous 

 few or many-fld. spike 1-3 in., rhachis often zigzag, with the 

 fl. at the angles; bracts ,V in., cymbiform, membranous, 

 sheathing the small obconicov. ; sep. ,\,-J. in., rather fleshy, 

 tips rounded, dorsal thickened in the middle, lateral almost 

 sigmoid, vcinless; mentum half as long as the sep. upcurved, 



* Dedicated 10 llaramanls de Alivis Seneviratna, the Sinhalese artist 

 attached to the Ceyh^n liotanic (hardens fmm 1823 10 1861. 



