288 cxxxiiT. ORCHiDE^ (brown). [Browuleea. 



obtuse, spur cylindrical, curved nearly in a circle, a little thickened 

 at apex. Lateral sepals irregularly quadrangular, exterior lower 

 angle almost a right angle, obtuse. Petals none (?) Lip very broadly 

 oblong, obtuse. Rostellum short, ligulate. — Disa apetcda, Kranzl. in 

 Engl. Pfl. Ost-Afr. C. 153 ; and in Engl. Jahrb. xxii. 21. 



Mozamb. Blst. German East Africa : Kilimanjaro ; Useri, 6000 ft., Volkens, 

 1969. 



i have not seen this plant. The petals are stated to be entirely absent, with a 

 doubtful suggestion that they may be connate with the lateral sepals, but I have little 

 doubt that they more or less adhere to the dorsal sepal, and have been overlooked. I 

 therefore place it under the genus Brownleea, which only differs from Disa by that 

 character. 



46. DISPERIS, Sw. ; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. PI. iii. 633 

 (by R. A. Rolfe). 



Dorsal sepal erect, galeate or calcarate ; lateral spreading, oblique, 

 free or more or less united, dorsally saccate or calcarate near the 

 inner margin. Petals united to dorsal sepal, falcately curved, usually 

 constricted in the middle, and obliquely acute or lobed at apex ; 

 base sometimes auriculate. Lip adnate to the face of the column, long 

 clawed above it, variously curved within the galea ; apex simple or 

 dilated into an entire sharply reflexed limb, bearing on its face a tooth- 

 like or bilobed appendage, either directed to the back of the spur or 

 incurved towards its mouth; very rarely inappendiculate. Column 

 erect, very stout ; rostellum large, membranous, bilobed, produced in 

 front into two rigid cartilaginous arms, holding at theii^ extremities the 

 glands of the poUinia. Clinandrium horizontal or ascending ; anther - 

 cells distinct, parallel, somewhat approximate ; poUen granules secund 

 in a double row on the margins of the flattened caudicles, which curl up 

 in a spiral on removal. Stigma bilobed ; lobes situated on either side of 

 the adnate claw of the lip, approximate or somewhat distant. Capsule 

 cylindrical or ovoid-oblong, ribbed. — Terrestrial herbs, usually small or 

 slender, with ovoid tubers. Leaves one to few, alternate, or limited 

 to a single opposite pair. Flowers in racemes or soHtary. Bracts 

 medium-sized or large and leaf -like. 



A genus of about forty species, most numerous in extra-tropical South Africa, with 

 four in the Mascarene Islands, and two in South India. 



One of the most natural and sharply defined genera in the Order, with remark- 

 ably complex structure. Its most striking peculiarities are, the prominent side arms 

 of the rostellum, over which the sacs of the lateral sepals exactly fit before the 

 flowers expand, and the remarkable diversities in the lip, which is adnate to the face of 

 the column, narrowly clawed above it, and then variously lobed or appendaged, this 

 latter part being enclosed within the galea formed by the union of the petals inside 

 the saccate or concave dorsal sepal. The appendage of the lip often exceeds the free 

 limb in size, though not invariably so, and in D. Anthoceros it is altogether absent. 

 The shape and direction of the two are also so variable that they are sometimes con- 

 fused. The former, however, may easily be recognised by the fact that it arises from 

 the face of the latter, being homologous with the crest of other genera. In some 

 cases it is directed to the back of the spur, and in others to its mouth, and it is 



