144 ORCHIDS OF THE CAPE PENINSULA. 
deflexed, faintly 3-nerved, 3 lines long; odd sepal arched, obovate, 
obtuse, 4 lines long, the filiform acute spur 5 lines long, or somewhat 
shorter than the ovary; petals falcate-ovate, subacute, fleshy, 24 lines 
long; lip tongue-shaped, obtuse, fleshy, deflexed, 24-3 lines long; 
rostellum erect, wider than long, tubercled on either side, with a 
shallow cleft between it and the short obtuse stigma. 
Has. Moist places on Table Mountain, and on the Constantia Mountain, 2000 
to 2800 ft., fi. Dec., infrequent, Bolus, 4897, 4988. 
The flowers have a yellowish ground, with dull red on the edges, 
and back of the odd sepal; the lip, and sometimes the whole flower, 
darker; leaves dark green. I have never found it elsewhere than on 
the mountains. 
Puate 16.—Figs. 1, 2, flower, side and front views, x 3 diameters; 3, odd sepal, 
x 3; 4, side petal, x 3; 5,6, column, side and front views; 7, bract:—all the 
latter variously magnified. 
8. Disa rufescens, Swartz, in Kongl. Vet. Acad. Handl., vol. xxi. 
(1800), p. 210.—Glabrous, erect, slender or robust, 6-18 inches high ; 
leaves several at the base of the stem, lanceolate, acute, expanded, 
sheathing at base, suberect, 14-3 in. long, 4-3 in. wide; passing 
gradually into sheaths with short, free, spreading or appressed, points; 
spike somewhat lax, from a fourth to a half the length of the plant; 
bracts broadly ovate, acute, acuminate, or cuspidate, nearly as long as 
the flowers ; side sepals obliquely ovate, subobtuse, spreading-recurved, 
veined, about 34 lines long; odd sepal with an arched oblong obtuse 
limb, and a somewhat thick, filiform, obtuse dependent spur 8-9 lines 
long, and exceeding the ovary; petals fleshy, falcate, emarginate; lip 
ovate, or tongue-shaped, very obtuse, about as long as the sepals; 
rostellum with an obtuse ridge on either side, separated by a more or 
less deep cleft from the stigma, which is excavated on the summit of 
a prominent column.—Thunberg, Flor. Cap., ed. 1823, p.18. Monadenia 
macrocera, Lindley, Gen. & Sp. Orch. (1838), p. 858. M. leptostachya, 
Sonder, in Linnea, vol. xix. (1847), p. 101. 
Has. Moist sandy places on the Flats, 100 ft., Sept., Bolus, 4551; on the lower 
plateau of Table Mountain, 2500 ft., fl. Oct., 4969; grassy banks near the summit, 
3300 ft., Jan., 4903?; Zeyher, 1570. 
Colour of the sepals yellowish, of the petals dark red. In the form 
from the highest elevation (if I am right in regarding it as a form of 
the present species) the sepals are greenish-yellow with reddish tips, 
the lip the same, the petals yellow. This species is very variable in 
size, some specimens being very puny, others large and robust. Its 
most usual characteristic appears to be its short tufted leaves, which 
are usually broad and flat, though in small and poorly-grown specimens 
these sometimes become narrow and involute. Its nearest allies are 
