36 ORCHIDS OF JAMAICA 



slender, narrowly winged, 2-17 cm. 1. Sheaths at base of stem, few, 

 scarious, loose, and soon decaying. Cauline sheaths loose, tubular below, 

 free part triangular, acuminate, with several nerves and branching veins, 

 4*5-1*5 cm. 1. Spike long, crowded with flowers, to 10 or 12 cm. 1. 

 Bracts elliptical, acuminate, 1-nerved, glabrous, as long as, or longer than, 

 the ovary, 6*5-8 mm. 1., 1*7-2*5 mm. br. Ovary obovoid-oblong, glabrous. 

 Sepals obtuse, 1-nerved; lateral slightly falcate, free part 3 '1-3 -4 mm. 1., 

 1-1*3 mm. br. ; median, free part 2 -5-2 -9 mm. 1., 1 mm. br. Petals 

 revolute, narrowly linear, obtuse, 1-nerved, as long as the median sepal, 

 •4 mm. br. Lip projecting much beyond the revolute sepals, upper 

 margin rolled in; nerves 7, branching; 3*2 mm, br, ; auricles linear, 

 about '5 mm. br. Capsule ellipsoidal, with six shallow keels, about 1 cm. 1., 

 3*5 mm. br. 



2. P. oligantha Lindl. Gen. & Sp. Orch. 454 (1840) ; leaves 

 small, short-stalked ; flowers white or rosy ; sepals erect, 

 roundish ; lip short, 1 mm. 1. — Cogn. in. Si/mh. Ant. vi. 360. 

 Cranichis oligantha Sw. Prodr. 120 (1788), Fl. Ind. Occ. 

 1425, t. 29, f. 2 & Ic. ined. t. 23. Prescottia myosurus Beichh. f. 

 in Griseh. Fl. Br. W. Ind. 640 (1864). (PI. 5, f. 4.) Type in 

 Herb. Mus. Brit. 



On damp shady banks; in fl. and fr. March; Blue Mts., Siuartzl 

 Orange Bay, Hanover, Purdie I St. Ann, Prior 1 Stony Hill, J,P, 471 

 (2606) Syme ! Mt, Moses, J.P. 2156, Morris ! near Cinchona, 4500 ft. ; 

 Clydesdale 4000 ft. ; Tweedside, south St. Andrew ; Morse's Gap 4900 ft. ; 

 Harris I Fl. Jam. 7612, 7844, 7856a, 10,094 (partly).— Cuba, Porto Rico, 

 St. Thomas, Guadeloupe, Dominica, 



Plant 8-12 in. high. Stem slender, with a few radical leaves and 

 many sheaths, 15-23 cm. 1. Leaves elliptical or oval, obtuse or acute, 

 tapering into the flattish membranous stalks, sheathing below ; blade 

 2*5-7*5 cm, 1., 1*5-3 cm. br. ; stalk 1-3*5 cm. 1. Sheaths tubular below, 

 free part oblong, tapering into a shortly acuminate apex, 3-1 cm. 1. 

 Spike densely crowded with numerous small flowers, 3-7 cm. 1. Bracts 

 ovate, long-acuminate, 1-nerved, as long as, or a little longer than, the 

 ovary, 3-2 mm. 1. Ovary obovoid, barely 2 mm. 1. Sepals concave, 

 1-nerved, tinged with brownish-pink at the tips ; lateral connivent ; 

 median spreading ; free part about 1 * 3 mm. 1., nearly 1 mm. br. Petals 

 narrowly obovoid, very obtuse, 1-nerved, recurving, barely 1 mm. 1., about 

 •5 mm. br. Lip 3-nerved, 1-1*2 mm. 1.; auricles short, *2 mm. 1. 

 Column winged laterally at the apex. Capsule ellipsoidal, with six shallow 

 keels, 4 mm. 1., 2*5 mm, br. 



13. PONTHIEVA R. Br. 



Terrestrial herbs with fibrous roots. Leaves radical, ovate, 

 oval or elliptical, membranous, many-nerved, reticulately 

 veined; stalks long or short, flattish, membranous, sheathing 

 below. Scape simple, slender with a few sheaths. Flowers 

 small, shortly stalked, in a lax raceme generally glandular- 

 pubescent. Bracts narrow, generally small. Sepals free, 

 spreading, either nearly equal or the lateral broader than the 

 median. Petals raised on the column, spreading, very asym- 

 metrical, triangular. Lip on the upper side ot the flower ; 



