HJEMARIA MERRILLII 



Haemaria Merrillii Ames in Philipp. Journ. Sci. (Bot.) 2: 315 

 (1907). 



Plant erect or ascending, up to 3 dm. high, leafy at the base. 

 Rhizome creeping. Leaves 5-7, ovate-lanceolate, shortly acumi- 

 nate, acute, 1-3 cm. long, 7-15 mm. wide, chartaceous when 

 dry, 7-nerved, shortly ipeiiol^ite; petioles expanded at base into 

 short, inflated sheaths which surround the stem. Peduncle com- 

 paratively slender, smooth or sparsely pubescent below, pubes- 

 cent above, with four or five acuminate acute bracts, the lower- 

 most sheathing. Racevie somewhat cylindrical, 7-12-flowered, 

 2-3 cm. long. Flowers whitish, smooth. Floral bracts lanceolate, 

 acuminate, acute, from a broad base, exceeding the ovaries, mar- 

 gins ciliolate or denticulate. Lateral sepals oblong-lanceolate, 

 acute, 1 -nerved, 5-6 mm. long, about 2 mm. wide. Upper sepal 

 lightly adherent to the petals, narrowly oblong-lanceolate, sub- 

 acute, 1 -nerved, about 6 mm. long. Petals asymmetrical, lan- 

 ceolate, obtuse, 1 -nerved, 6 mm. long, 2 mm. wide above the 

 middle. Labellum 5 mm. long, complex, with 2 fleshy protuber- 

 ances, warts, or rotund calli within, somewhat saccate at the 

 base, thickened on each side, expanded at the apex into a mem- 

 branaceous crenulate-margined transversely oblong retuse mu- 

 cronate lamina; lamina 4 mm. wide, about 2 mm. long. Column 

 short, about 4 mm. long to the tip of the anther; anther large, 

 exceeding the bifid rostellum, 3 mm. long. 



Philippine Islands : Terrestrial in mossy forest at 4300 ft. alt. on Mt, Hal- 

 con, Mindoro, flowers white, odorless, calyx greenish, November 13, 1906, 

 E. D. Merrill (nos. 5840 tyj^e & 5819). The description was made from a co- 

 type in herb. Ames. 



The NeottiiuEe-Physurese group, according to Pfitzer's treat- 



[21 ] 



