ORCHIDACE^. 385 



toothed. Lateral sepals ovate. Petals narrow, t. 242. 

 Wight Ic. t. 901- 



In woods. Nilgiris : Kotagiri and above to Ootacamund. 

 Pulneys : on the downs. Fyson 567. Bourne 590, 1062, * 4614. 

 Gen. Dist. South Indian hills and Ceylon. 



Very variable in the colour and size of the flowers, and in the size and 

 relative breadth of the leaves. One specimen from Kodaikanal (Sauliere 

 No. 16 'at 8,100 feet ') is in leaf exactly like M. lacifolia Thwaites a Ceylon 

 species, but differs in the bracts being deflexed, instead of suberect as in 

 that species. I have seen other specimens so different as to appear distinct 

 species but which are, I think, only varieties of M. versicolor. 



'•' var lutcola. Plant smaller, spike shorter, 2 inches, but 

 flowers larger and less crowded, green with slight pinkish tinge. 

 Lip broader than long with eight pairs of teeth and a median 

 shorter one on both plateaus. Bourne 1035, 2935. Wight Ic. 

 t. 1682. 



CIRRHOPETALUM. f.b.i. 148x1. 



Tree orchids with long cylindrical creeping stem, 

 often clothed with small scales or their fibrous remains, 

 and each section of an inch or so ending in an upright 

 tuber or pseudobulb bearing at the top a single, thick, 

 oblong-oval leaf jointed to it and folded in bud, and on 

 one side a slender axis with two or three bracts and 

 a terminal whorl of flowers, peculiar in the two side 

 sepals being three or four times as long ( J^ inch) as the 

 petals (J^ inch) and projecting in front like a double lip. 



Species 40, chiefly in India and Malaya. 



Cirrhopctalum thomsoni /. D. Hooker ; F.B.I. v 778, XI 

 27. Stem y^ inch thick ; tubers ^ to 2 inches apart, 

 ^ to ^ inch high, conical, green. Leaf elliptic or linear- 

 oblong, obtuse, 2 inches by J^ inch with a fair midrib 

 and numerous parallel slender nerves, thick and leathery, 

 and falling off by a clean joint from the top of the bulb. 

 Flowering axis very slender, with two to three small scale- 

 sheaths at the base, and thin, ovate bracts 14> inch. 

 Flowers umbelled, four to five standing horizontal. Side 

 sepals Yz inch by ^ inch, lanceolate, curved, five-nerved, 

 yellowish-green with small reddish purple spots near the 

 25 



