ORCHIDACEiE. 395 



comes off the rostellum with a piece, ovate on one side 

 bifid on the other, t. 248. Wight Ic t. 1677 bis. 



On exposed rocks. Common on the Pulney downs, about 

 Kodaikanal. Nilgiris : Coonoor. Fyson 377. Bourne 1850, 

 1850.^ 



Gen . Dist. Western Ghats. 



This is the Orchid commonly brought round for sale in Kodaikanal a 

 practice which should not be encouraged, for collectors of this type are 

 ruthless in their destruction. In any case a plant, when done with, should 

 not be thrown away, even if only a piece of stem, but carefully planted in a 

 crevice on some exposed rock. 



>Eridcs radicosum A. Rich; F.B.I. vi 46, LVIII II ; 

 the larger rose Tree Orchid. Stem much as in brides 

 crispum, bound to the tree by interlacing 54 inch thick, 

 dirty white roots. Leaves ^ inch wide, 6 to 10 inches 

 long, thick, strongly grooved, and when young folded 

 down the midrib; slightly unequal at the tip; often 

 spotted brown. Spike erect, usually shorter than the 

 leaves. Flowers less than half as wide as they are long : 

 pedicel and ovary I inch, curving back against the axis of 

 the spike. Dorsal sepal erect, nearly flat, oval, 1/5 inch : 

 lateral % inch, forming with the smaller petals very flat 

 sides to the flower. Mid-lobe of lip 1/5 inch, broad and 

 long, contracted suddenly at both ends : lateral lobes 

 i/i6inch, the part joining them with a double swelling. 

 Spur J4 inch, curved forwards, blunt. Column ^ inch, 

 very deeply grooved, or with thick white wings project- 

 ing at the base as much as ^ inch : stigma shining, 1/16 

 inch. Capsule on a stalk of ^ inch, I by 2/5 inch, three- 

 angled, with a broad band down the middle of each 

 side along one side of which it opens, and capped by 

 the remains of the flower: placentas woolly, t. 249- 

 Wight Ic. t. 1673 (Saccolabium rubrum) ; Ic. t. 917 (S. 

 wightianum). 



On trees, flowering before the rains. Nilgiris : Ootacamund 

 in sholas common, and at lower levels to Pykara, and Kotagiri. 

 Pulneys : rare on the downs. Fyson 2617. Bour?te 2946, 4817. 



