Epipactis.] cxxxiii. orchide^ (rolfe). 181> 



ovate or pandurate. Column short, flat or concave in front; 

 clinandrium short. Anther erect, ovate, slightly convex, 2-celled ; 

 pollinia powdery or granular, free or affixed to a small gland. 

 Stigma broad and prominent; rostellum broad. Capsule oblong, 

 spreading or pendulous. — Terrestrial herbs, with creeping rhizomes, 

 and simple, erect, leafy stems. Leaves ovate or lanceolate, plicate- 

 veined. Flowers medium-sized, green or purplish, shortly pedicelled^ 

 drooping, arranged in a secund raceme. Bracts herbaceous, narrow ; 

 lower often longer than the flowers. 



A genus of about 12 species, widely dispersed through the temperate and mountain 

 regions of the northern hemisphere, with the two following African representatives. 



Sepals acuminate ; hypochile with a pair of linear-oblong 



staminodes at the base . . . . . . 1. JE. africana. 



Sepals subotuse ; hypochile without staminodes , . 2. E. somaliensis'. 



1. E. africana, Rendle in Journ. Bot. 1895, 252. Plant 1:^-2 ft. 

 high, ferruginous-pubescent. Leaves ovate or ovate-oblong, sub- 

 obtuse, amplexicaul, recurved, very strongly nerved ; lower ones 3 in. 

 long, 1|^ in. broad, decreasing upwards into the bracts. Racemes more 

 or less elongate. Bracts leaf -like ; the lower 1\ in. long. Pedicels 

 J-lJ lin. long. Dorsal sepal lanceolate, acute, 6-7 lin. long; lateral 

 with a broadly ovate, oblique base, 3 lin. long, and a narrowly falcate- 

 acuminate apex, 5-6 lin. long. Petals ovate, acuminate, subfalcate, 

 6-7 lin. long. Lip 8 lin. long; hypochile narrowly oblong, concave, 

 4 lin. long ; epichile broadly ovate, acute, 4 J lin. long ; base of the lip 

 with a pair of free, linear-oblong, subobtuse, membranous, nerved, 

 staminodes, 3J lin. long. Column 2J lin. long. 



Wile Itand. British East Africa : Ruwenzori, Butagu, 8000-10,000 ft., among 

 heather, Scott-JElliot, 8005 ! 



The staminodial appendages at the base of the lip are anomalous in the genus. 



2. E. somaliensis, Rolfe. Plant 1-2 ft. high, fuscous-pubescent. 

 Leaves lanceolate or subovate-lanceolate, attenuate ^ sessile, suberect, 

 the largest 6 in. long^ f in. broad, decreasing into sheaths below and 

 bracts above. Racemes 5-12 in. long, many-flowered. Bracts leaf -like, 

 the lowest over 2 in. long, the upper ^ in. long. Pedicels J-J in. 

 long. Flowers greenish-brown. Dorsal sepal ovate, subobtuse, 5-6 lin. 

 long ; lateral obliquely semiovate, 6-7 lin. long, 3 lin. broad. Petals 

 ovate, subobtuse, 5-6 lin. long. Lip 6 lin. long; hypochile narrowly 

 obovate-oblong, concave,' 2 J lin. long ; epichile pandurate- ovate, sub- 

 obtuse or apiculate, 4 lin." long, broad at the base, much narrower 

 above. Column 2 lin. long. 



Nile Iiand. Somaliland : Golis Range, at Woob, in the river bed, Mrs. Lorf 

 FhilUjps ! Miss H. Cole ! 



Allied to the preceding, but very different in the shape of the leaves, sepals and 

 petals, and the details of the lip. 



30. STENOGLOTTIS, Lindl. ; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. PI. iii. 622. 



Sepals free, subequal, ultimately spreading. Petals somewhat 

 narrower than the sepals, and suberect. Lip continuous with the base 



