CXXXIII. ORCHIDE^ (rOLFE). 17 



1. OBERONIA, Lindl. ; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. PI. iii. 494. 



Sepals free, subequal, spreading or deflexed. Petals mostly smaller. 

 Lip superior, sessile, entire or 2-4-lobed. Column very short ; anther 

 terminal, incumbent; pollinia 4, cohering by a viscid appendage. — 

 Tufted epiphytes, without pseudobulbs. Leaves distichous, equitant, 

 ensiform or very rarely terete. Flowers very minute, in dense sub- 

 cylindrical spikes or racemes. 



A genus of about sixty species, of which the majority are Indian and Malayan, 

 with one in Japan, two or three others in Australia and Polynesia, and one in the 

 Mascarene Islands. 



1. O. brevifolia, Lindl. Gen. d- Sp. Orch. 16. Stem leafy, 1-3 in. 

 long. Leaves closely imbricate, ovate or oblong. Spikes generally about 

 as long as the stem, slender, usually drooping. Bracts lanceolate, 

 acuminate, serrulate, loosely investing the pedicel and ovary, J lin. 

 long. Sepals broadly ovate. Petals linear. Lip slightly embracing 

 the column, hollowed at the base, usually bilobed at the apex. Capsule 

 ovoid, with three prominent ribs, and three alternating smaller ones, 

 IJ lin. long. — Lindl. Fol. Orch., Oberon. 6 ; Engl. Veg. Usamb. in 

 Abhandl. d. K. Preuss. Akad. zu Berlin, 1894, reprint, p. 47 ; Kranzl. 

 in Engl. Pfl. Ost-Afr. C. 154. 



BCozaml). Dist. German East Africa; Usambara ; Nderema, 2900-3200 ft. 

 (ex Krdnzlin). 



Widely diffused in the Mascarene Islands. I have not seen African specimens, 

 unless the succeeding belongs here. 



2. O. sp., Rolfein Bolet. Soc. Brot. ix. 138. Caulescent, 2 in. high. 

 Leaves ensiform, 8-10 lin. long. Scape | in. high. Bracts linear- 

 lanceolate, acute, f lin. long. Capsule subglobose, shortly pedicelled. 



Iiower Guinea. Island of St. Thomas, Quinfas, 1 1 ! 



Kcsembles the preceding in habit, and may be a dwarfed state of it, but this 

 must remain uncertain until flowers are known. 



2. MICROSTYLIS, Nutt. ; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. PI. iii. 494. 



Sepals free, subequal, spreading. Petals equalling the sepals, but 

 usually narrower, sometimes filiform. Lip superior, sessile, erect or 

 spreading, shorter than the petals, often very broad, entire, 2-3-lobed 

 or fimbriate-dentate ; base cordate or extending into elongated auricles, 

 which clasp the column. Column very short, terete, with short spreading 

 arms; anther subterminal ; pollinia 4. — Terrestrial or epiphytic herbs, 

 with or without pseudobulbs. Leaves one to three, continuous with 

 their sheath, membranous. Flowers small, often minute, in lax or 

 dense spikes, occasionally subumbellate. Bracts small, narrow. 



A genus of about seventy species, most abundant in Tropical Asia and America,, 

 with one widely diffused through the north temperate zone, three or four others in 

 VOL. VII. B 



