STUDIES OF OTOSTYLIS BRACHYSTALIX 



AND THE SPECIES WITH WHICH IT HAS BEEN CONFUSED 



Otostylis brachystalix {Reichb.f.) Schltr. in Orchis 12 (1918) 

 39, 40, t. 5. Zygopetalum brachystalix Reichb.f. in Walp. Ann. 

 6 (1861) 660. Cyrtopodium cristatum Griseb. Fl. Brit. W. Ind. 

 (1864) 630, non Lindl. Cyrtopodium Grisebachii i^o//*^ ex Patter 

 in Orch. Rev. 3 (1895) 276. Cyrtopodium cristatum Cogn.in Urb. 

 Symb. Antill. 6 (1910) 579 in part as to Broadway 2336,exc\ude 

 Broadway 2343. Aganisia brachystahx Rolfe in Orch. Rev. 22 

 (1914) 200. Koellensteinia brachystalix Schltr. in Orchis 9 (1915) 

 31, 32. 



Otostylis brachystalix has had a remarkable history and has 

 given rise to an extraordinary synonymy. It was originally col- 

 lected in the Aripo Savannah of Trinidad and described by H. G. 

 Reichenbach in 1861 sls Zygopetalum brachystalix. In recent times 

 it has been confused with Cyrtopodium cristatum Lindl., a species 

 originally collected by Schomburgk in British Guiana. In fact 

 Cogniaux in Symbolae Antillanae among the specimens cited 

 under Cyrtopodium cristatum included number 2336 of W. E. 

 Broadway's collections, which is referable to Otostylis brachy- 

 stalix. 



In 1895, in a brief account of Trinidad orchids. Patter referred 

 to a very beautiful white flowered plant with a lemon yellow crest 

 on the lip under the name Cyrtopodium Grisebachii Rolfe. It 

 would seem that this name was never properly published by Rolfe 

 and depends wholly on Patter's citation. In 1914 Rolfe studied 

 material of this species from Trinidad and detected its affinity 

 with orchids of the Zygopetaleae. He suggested that the species 

 represented Zygopetalum brachystalix Reichb. f. As the charac- 

 ters are not in conformity with Zygopetalum as now interpreted, 



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