204 cxxxiii. ORCHIDE^ (rolfe). [Platauthera. 



trilobed ; middle lobe subulate or tooth-like, situated between the 

 anther cells ; side lobes short. Capsule ellipsoid or oblong. — Terres- 

 trial herbs with the habit of Orchis. Tubers ovoid-globose or rarely 

 lobed. Flowers small or large, in lax or dense spikes or racemes. 

 Bracts mostly narrow. 



A genus of 60 or 70 species, dispersed through the north temperate regions, and in 

 the tropics of Asia and Africa, chiefly in the mountains. 



Distinguished from Hahenaria by the short, more or less confluent stigmas. 

 Spur straight or slightly curved. 



Spikes lax 1. P. hellehorina. 



Spikes dense. 



Lip cuneate-dilated, trilobed . . . . 2. P. engleriana. 



Lip ovate-oblong, entire . . . . . 3. P. tenuior. 



Spur hooked, constricted in the middle, subglobose at the 



apex . . . . . . . . 4. P. uncata. 



1. P. helleborina, Rolfe. Plant 1-1;^ ft. high, leafy. Leaves 

 lanceolate-oblong, acute or subacute, 2-4 in. long, J-lJ in. broad, 

 decreasing upwards into the bracts. Bracts ovate-lanceolate, acute, 

 |-1^ in. long. Pedicels 5-6 lin. long. Flowers green, with a lilac 

 spotted lip. Dorsal sepal oblong-lanceolate, subobtuse, subgaleate, 

 5 lin. long; lateral spreading, reflexed, falcate-oblong, subobtuse, 

 5 lin. long. Petals falcate-cblong, obtuse, appressed to the dorsal sepal 

 forming a hood, 5 lin. long. Lip 10-11 lin. long, shortly clawed, then 

 much dilated, suborbicular or obovate-orbicular, emarginate or shortly 

 bilobed, 8 lin. broad ; disc with a pair of keel-like lamellae at the base ; 

 spur conical, narrowed near the apex, subobtuse, 4 lin. long. Anther 

 oblong, IJ lin. long, with short caudicles. Stigmas very short, nearly 

 confluentr Rostellum tooth-like, minute. Capsule oblong, 7-8 lin. 

 long. — Hahenaria hellehorina^ Nichols. Diet. Gard. ii. 107. Gymnadenia 

 maa-antha, Lindl. Gen. & Sp. Orch. 270 , Kranzl. in Reichb. f. Xen. 

 Orch. iii. 71, t. 2SQ ; var. punctulata, Kranzl. Lc. t. 2o7, fig. 2. Eulophia 

 hellehorina^ Hook. f. in Bot. Mag. t. 5875. 



TXpper Guinea. Sierra Leone : Turner ! Bockstatt ! Hart ! shady places on 

 the way up Sngarloaf Mountain, Scoit-^lliot, 4061 ! 



2. P, engleriana, Rolfe. Stem very long, over 3 ft. high, slender, 

 the lower 10 inches clothed with distant sheaths, the upper part leafy. 

 Leaves about 20, lanceolate, acuminate, distant, decreasing into the 

 bracts above. Bracts leaf-like, but smaller than the leaves, the 

 lower longer than the flowers, the upper equalling them. Spikes 

 dense, many-flowered, glabi-ous, continuous with the upper leaves. 

 Sepals ovate, obtuse; lateral a little oblique at the base. Petals 

 ovate, obtuse, more slender than the sepals. Lip with a narrow base, 

 suddenly dilated into a trilobed limb ; side lobes triangular ; front lobe 

 elongate-linear, obtuse; disc with 2 straight elevated calli between 

 the side lobes, connected by a very narrow isthmus ; spur long, stout, 

 cylindrical, sUghtly curved, obtuse, as long as the lip. Column tall, 



