176 ORCHIDS OF THE CAPE PENINSULA. 
side sepals spreading, lanceolate, very acuminate, 12-14 lines long, the 
sac near the base, conical, very shallow; lip narrow below, somewhat 
spoon-shaped above, then bent forward and downward into a sigmoid 
flexure at the apex, either with or without a short dorsal lacerate ap- 
pendage near the bend; arms of the rostellum short and somewhat 
approximate. Arethusa capensis, Linneus, f. Suppl. (1781), 405 ; Thun- 
berg, Prodr. Pl. Cap. (1794), p. 3. Dipera capensis and D. tenera, 
Sprengel, Syst. Veg. 3 (1826), 696; Ker, in Journ. Sci. R. Inst. Lond., 
vol. v. (1818), t.1., f. 2. 
Has. In heathy places and amongst Restiacer, on the Cape Flats, and on the 
mountain-sides and tops up to 3500 ft.; fl. July—Aug., Burchell, 8527; Bolus, 3735; 
Herb. Norm. Austr.-Afr., 177.—Extends along the coast eastward as far as Port 
Elizabeth (Burchell, 5943). 
The flowers vary from purple, which is darker on the edges, to 
lilac. There is also a variety with yellow or greenish flowers ; in these 
the lip is narrower above and usually destitute of the dorsal appendage, 
though sometimes it is present in a very reduced form. ‘The species 
is quite distinct by the long claw-like points to its sepals and the form 
of its lip, and cannot be mistaken for any other. 
2. Disperis paludosa, Harvey, in Hooker's Lond. Journ. Bot., 
vol. i. (1842), p. 14.—Tuber sessile, oblong, making runners; stem 
erect, 6-16 in. high, distantly 2—4-leaved, leaves linear-lanceolate, 
acute, sheathing at base, erect-spreading, 1-2 in. long; flowers 1-5, 
in a loose raceme; bracts broadly ovate or lanceolate, shorter than the 
ovary ; odd sepal vaulted, lanceolate, acuminate, nerved, bent forward 
horizontally at the summit, the cohering petals semi-cordate, acute, 
waved, the mouth of the whole galea about 7 lines wide ; side sepals 
lanceolate, spreading, deflexed at the acuminate points with a curved 
blunt spur near the base, about 7 lines long; lip ascending, with a 
narrow gland-fringed claw over the convex face of the column, 
reflexed, then shortly erect and produced into a horizontal saddle- or 
boat-shaped piece which projects forward into a beak-like point, and 
backward into a rounded, keeled, gland-bearing boss; arms of the 
rostellum large, distant, divaricately spreading; stigmas 2, lateral. 
Harvey, in Thes. Cap., vol. ii. (1868), p. 80, t. 148. 
Has. In marshy places, Van Kamp’s Bay (Harvey); on Table and Devil’s 
Mountains in several places, 2400—2500 ft.; fl. Nov.—Dec., Ecklon (in 1813); 
Bolus, 4499; Herb. Norm. Austr.-Afr., 339.—Extends to French Hoek. 
The sepals are a bright purple, the petals rose-coloured with a 
bright green edge, spotted with white and carmine dots. A hand- 
some plant, of which the smaller one-flowered specimens resemble D. 
capensis, but with very differently-shaped flowers. The peculiar habit 
of this plant is thus described by Harvey :—‘‘ It always grows in very 
moist spongy places; and like several other tuberous or fleshy-rooted 
