EPIPACTIS CLAUSA 



Epipactis clausa A. A. Eaton in MS. 



The solitary plant which composes the type specimen is about 

 2 dm. tall, ascending or erect from an elongated creeping i^hi- 

 zome. Leaves three, 2-3 cm. apart, dark green with whitish or yel- 

 lowish veins, ovate-lanceolate, acuminate, acute, the margin mi- 

 nutely crenulate (when dry?) ; lamina of the largest leaf 3.5 cm. 

 long, 1.8 cm. wide above the middle; uppermost leaf bract-like; 

 petiole very short, or none, consequently the lamina of each leaf 

 has the appearance of being sessile on an inflated sheath, which 

 is about 1 cm. long and which clothes the thickened stem. Ra- 

 ceme rather dense, about 4 cm. long, with a slender pubescent 

 rhachis and lanceolate acute bracts subtending the somewhat ^o- 

 huXaixJiowei'S. Lateral sepals coherent at base, ovate, 1 -nerved, ob- 

 tuse, the apical margin involute. Petals asymmetrical, 1 -nerved, 

 obtuse, above the claw dilated into a subrhombic irregularly 

 lanceolate or subdolabriform plate. Lahellum lightly saccate at 

 the base, very broadly ovate when flattened out, contracted at 

 the apex into a blunt point ; margin irregularly crenulate, with 

 scattered minute almost invisible papillce; within the sac are 

 several clavate hairs, and near its middle, arising from the me- 

 dian nerve, two relatively large clavate pi^ocesses. Anther ex- 

 ceeding the rostellum. 



Philippine Islands: Canladn Volcano, Negros Occidental, March, 1902, 

 C. S. Banks (without number, marked as type, in the herbarium of the 

 Philippine Bureau of Science). 



The specimen on which the description is based has minute 

 globular flowers which have the appearance of being partially 

 closed owing to their immature condition. Whether or not these 

 flowers exhibit the normal and characteristic tendencies of the 



[41 ] 



