Oclarrhcna.'] OrchicieCS. 20"] 



40. PHREATZA, Lindl. 

 Epiphytes of various habits, pseudobulbous or not; 1. disti- 

 chous, narrow, jointed on the equitant sheaths, coriaceous or 

 fleshy; ped. terminal; fl. minute, in spiciform racemes, secund, 

 and bracts of soft cellular tissue; sep. connivent, subequal, 

 oblong or triangular, lateral adnate to the foot of the column, 

 bases saccate, forming a mentum ; pet. shorter than the sep., 

 oblong ; tip inserted in the foot of the column, very small, 

 clawed; column short, broad, base produced into a foot; anth. 

 terminal, 2-celled, pollinia 8, microscopic, globosely pyriform, 

 waxy, united by a narrow caudicle to a gland on the rostellum. 

 — Sp. about 10; 4 or 5 in FL B. Ind. 



The genus Phreaiia is, owing to the minuteness and soft texture of 

 the flowers, very difficult of examination from dried specimens, and the 

 above description does not embrace various Indian and Malayan species. 

 Its close affinity with Octarrhena and Thelasis, as shown in habit, in the 

 cellular tissue of the flowers, and in the dorsal position of the anth. on 

 the column, seems to prove its belonging to the tribe Vandecs and sub- 

 tribe NotylidcE.—}. D. H. 



I. P. elegrans, Lindl. Gen. and Sp. Orch. 63 (1830). 



Thw. Enum. 299. Thelasis elegans, Bl. Mus. Bot. ii. 187. C. P. 3186. 



FI. B. Ind. V. 810. Ann. Bot. Gard. Calcutt. viii. t. 2)2i?)- 



Stems densely tufted, very short, sub-pseudobulbous, roots 

 of stout fascicled fibres; 1. 2-4 in., sessile on their thin sheaths, 

 linear, narrowed at the base, obtuse, coriaceous, i-veined; ped. 

 longer than the 1., erect, with the spiciform many-fld. raceme 

 2-3 in. long; fl. very shortly pedicelled, subsecund; bracts 

 ovate-oblong, acuminate, i -veined, closely sheathing the 

 curved ov. ; sep. ^V-tV in. long, i -veined, broadly triangular, 

 acute, dorsal rather the smaller, lateral gibbous at the saccate 

 base; mentum rounded; pet. ^ shorter than the lateral sep., 

 oval, obtuse; lip very small, nearly orbicular, with a sigmoid 

 claw, disk faintly veined, column truncate in front, with a 

 minute rostellum; anth. obtusely conical, transversely oblong 

 after dehiscence; pollinia most minute, cohering by a viscus. 



Very rare. Peradeniya (Macrae). No one else has collected it in 

 Ceylon. Fl. white. 



Also in the Khasia Hills. 



The single specimen in Herb. Perad. has no locality; and there is 

 no drawing. 



41. OCTARRHENA, Thw. 

 A small epiphytic tufted leafy herb; roots fibrous; 1. disti- 

 chous, laterally compressed, jointed on their equitant sheaths, 

 coriaceous; ped. axillary; fl. minute, secund in spiciform 



