350 CXXI. SCITAMTNE^. ^, 



form, embraeod by tlie autlicr-cclls ; stiu^ma capitate er 2- 

 lamellate or dilated ; ovules numerous, horizontal, attached to 

 the inner angle of the cells. Pruit usually capsular, 3-valved, 

 crowned with the persistent perianth ; many-seeded. Seeds 

 with or without an aril; outer albumen floury; inner horny; 

 embryo straight. — Herbs, with perennial, creeping root- stocks 

 or tubers. Leaves all radical and sessile or their long sheaths 

 forming erect stems. \ 



1. KJEMPFERIA, Linn. 



Outer perianth (calyx) tubular, slit on one side ; inner of 3 

 pieces, 3 outer equal narrow ; 3 inner combined into a large 

 flabelliform 3-lobed lip ; filaments produced above the anther 

 into a large 2-fid or 3-fid, toothed crest. Stigma fan-shaped, 

 ciliated. — Cienkowskia, Schiveinfurth, Beitrag, Fl. JEthiop. 197. 

 t. 1. 



Stemless herbs, with numerous fascicled tuberous roots. The tubers spin- 

 dle-shaped, on iong stalks. Leaves ovate or lanceolate. Scapes radical, 

 covered with sheathing, spathaceous bracts. Flowers large and handsome. 

 — 1 blue-flowered species, from Natal, found by Grerrard, and, apparently, 

 the plant figured in Schweinfurth's 'Flora ^Ethiopiensis,' and there called 

 Cienkoivskia ^thiopica. 



Oeder CXXII. ORCHIDACE^. 



Flowers bisexual. Perianth with a ringent or irregular 6- 

 parted limb ; the outer segments usually coloured and the odd 

 one (by a twist in the ovary) uppermost ; inner segments more 

 petaloid, two lateral similar, the odd one (labellum) unlike 

 the others, often lobed or spurred at base. Stamens normally 

 3, united in a central column, of these (in the Cape genera) 

 only 1, opposite the back sepal, bears an anther. Anther de- 

 ciduous or persistent, 2-, 4-, 8-celled ; pollen cohering in 

 definite or indefinite waxy masses, rarely powdery. Ovary 

 1-celled, inferior, with 3 parietal placentas ; ovules indefinite ; 

 style combined with the staminal column ; stigma a viscid 

 cavity or disk in front of the column. Capsule 3-ribbed, 

 3-valved. Seeds exalbuminous, minute, with a loose coat. — 

 Herbaceous plants with simple, entire, generally sheathing or 

 amplexicaul leaves, either terrestrial with tuberous roots or 

 epiphytical, attached to other plants or to rocks by cylindrical 

 or filiform aerial roots. These last, the " air-plants," are most 

 numerous in the Tropics, particularly of America ; a few are 

 found in our Eastern frontier and beyond it. Of the seven 

 tribes under which the Order is distributed, but three are 

 represented in South Africa. 



