Neohe^ithamia.'] cxxxiii. orchide^ (rolfe). 103 



somewhat bifid, attached to two slender stipes, which are united at the 

 extreme base, gland scale-like, semicircular. 



An endemic monotype, allied to the Asiatic genus, Bromheadia, but very distinct 

 from anything else. 



1. N. gracilis, Rolfe in Gard. Chron, 1891, x. 272, 273, fig. 33. 

 A tall, branching and somewhat straggling plant, 3-4 ft. high, with 

 slender, suberect or spreading branches. Leaves distichous, numerous, 

 linear, unequally bidentate, 5-7 in. long, 3-5 lin. broad. Raceme 

 terminal, short, many-flowered. Bracts linear-setaceous, 1 J-2 lin. long. 

 Pedicels 9-10 lin. long. Sepals and petals subequal, oblong, 5 lin. long, 

 2 lin. broad, white. Lip obovate-oblong, truncate or minutely apiculate, 

 undulate on the sides, narrowed below, white with a yellow middle 

 line and a row of rosy spots on either side ; disc slightly pubescent. 

 Column white ; anther-case dull-purple, minutely puberulous. — Bot. 

 Mag. t. 7221. 



Mozamb. Blst. German East Africa : Usagara Mountains, about 100 miles 

 inland, 1500 ft., cultivated specimens. Kirk ! 



Originally sent to Kew in 1884, and flowered there in 1890. 



15. POLYSTACHYA, Hook.; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. PI. iii. 540. 



Sepals connivent or somewhat spreading; dorsal free; lateral broader, 

 sometimes very broad, adnata to the foot of the column. Petals 

 like the dorsal sepal or often narrower. Lip superior, articulated 

 to the foot of the column, base contracted, entire or 3-lobed. Column 

 usually very short, broad, not winged, produced into a foot at the base ; 

 clinandrium short, truncate. Anther terminal^ operculate, incumbent, 

 very convex, 1 -celled or imperfectly 2-celled ; poUinia 4, waxy, broadly 

 ovate, sometimes united in pairs, affixed to a short stipes and gland. 

 Capsule oblong or fusiform, sometimes elongate. — Epiphytic herbs. 

 Stems often short, sometimes thickened into pseudobulbs, mostly leafy. 

 Leaves distichous, oblong or narrow, often many-nerved, contracted 

 into sheaths at the base. Peduncle terminal, or rarely axillary, with a 

 few sheaths below, apex paniculate or racemose. Flowers small, rarely 

 medium-sized. Bracts small. 



A widely diffused genus of over 90 species, most numerous in Tropical Africa, and 

 comparatively rare in India. 



Pseudobulbs or stems approximate or tufted. 

 Lip not less than a third as broad as long. 



Khachis of inflorescence nearly straight, except rarely 

 in 59. 

 Crest of lip small, carinate or tooth-like. 

 Flowers under f in. long. 



Scapes several or many-flowered. 



Chin of the flower almost or quite twice as 

 long as the dorsal sepal. 

 Leaves lanceolate or lanceolate-oblong . 1. P. leonensis. 

 Leaves linear or oblong-linear. 



Leaves 4^-5 lin. broad ; inflorescence 



many-flowered . . .2. P.farinosa. 



