ORCHIDACE^. 405 



spur. Spur H inch, half the ovary. Column about 1/16 

 inch. Leaves and flowers dry black, t. 257. Wight Ic. 

 t. 1097. 



Pulneys : Pillar rocks and down to Shembaganur. Fyson 

 1179, 2055, 3105. Bourne 1184. 



Habenaria obcordata ; Platanthera obc. Lindl. / 

 F.B.I. ; as Habenaria galeandra and Habenaria jantha, 

 vi 163 and 164, CVI 100 and lOI ; common purple ground- 

 orchid. Stem 6 to 10 inches, leafy throughout, glabrous, 

 green but purplish at the base. Leaves ovate-acute, 

 stem clasping, I to 2 by ?4 to I inch, merging upwards 

 into bracts. Bracts leaf-like, longer than the ovary. 

 Sepals and petals erect, arching over the column. Spur 

 short and broad, sac-like. Very variable in size and in 

 the size and shape of the lip, which may be from % to 

 I inch, and from cuspidate to deeply notched, t. 258. 



* var typica, Wall. Cat. 7050. Lip 1/3 inch wide, 

 cuspidate ; bracts longer than the flowers. 



* ^ var nilagirica, Wight Ic. t. 1693. Leaves rather 

 broader, bracts less spreading. 



■^ ^ "^ var galeandra, Reichb., Wall. Cat. 7050 

 ' Silhet '. Bract not much longer than the flowers. Lip as in 

 var typica, nearly as broad, cuspidate. Stem green, spotted with 

 purple, and at the base quite purple. Leaves broad, green 

 with purple nerves. Lip white with purplish spots. [Wight Ic. 

 t. 1693 (P. affinis) is of a poor specimen approaching var typica. 

 Wight Ic. t. 1692, H. jantha, is of a finer plant]. 



Pulneys: near and below Kodaikanal. Fyson 1837,3106. 

 Bourne j\^2, 1188, 1997. 



^^^ * z;^r jantha Hooker ms. on Herb, Wight Prop. 1031 ! 

 not of Wight. Lip larger, up to i inch across, and longer, 

 deeply notched with or without a central point, but not cuspidate. 

 Stem dark purplish-red. Leaves green with red nerves, t. 258. 

 (b : fruit.) 



Pulneys: Kodaikanal downs. Travancore {Wight Kew 

 Dht. 3025). Fyson 458, 3107. Bourne 585, 1189, 2954. 



The lip of this variety is very similar to that of P. helleborina Rolfe 

 (Fir. Trop. Afr. viii 204), which species however is different in foliage. 



