TROPIDIA 41 



under the lip into a short chin. Lip saccate at base, oblong. 

 Column short. 



Species about 15, natives of the East Indies, Malaya, China 

 and Japan, and one in W. Indies and Florida. 



T. polystachya Ames Orch. ii. 262 (1908). — T, Eatoni Ames 

 Orch. S. Fla. 14, t. b (1904). Serapias polystachya Sw. 

 Prodr. 119 (1788). Neottia polystachya Sw. Fl. Ind. Occ. 1415 

 (1806). Chloidia vernalis Lindl. Gen. d Sp. Orch. 484 (1840). 

 C. polystachya Beichh. f. in Walp. Ann. vi. 644 (1861), & in 

 Griseb. Fl. Br. W. Ind. 643. Polystachya membranacea A. Bich. 

 Fl. Cub. ii. 248 (1853). Corymborchis polystachya Kuntze 

 Bev. Gen. PI. 658 (1891). (PL 5, f. 15.) Type in Herb. Mus. 

 Brit. 



In damp woods ; in fl. in spring ; mountains of Clarendon, Swartz 1 

 Manchester ; Westmoreland ; Furdie I Pricn- 1 Stony Hill, J.P. 469, Morris ! 

 — Cuba, Florida. 



Plant nearly 2 ft. high. Stem 4 dm. high, branching. Leaves oblong- 

 lanceolate, acuminate, about 7-nerved ; blade 12-22 cm. L, 3-5 cm. br. 

 Panicle 10-15 cm. 1., with numerous lax flowers. Bracts linear-subulate; 

 at base of branches 2-5-7 cm. 1. ; floral 2-7 mm. 1. Pedicels very short, 

 1-2 mm. 1. Flowers pale red, ^ in. 1. Ovary cylindrical, about 8 mm. 1. 

 Sepals 5-nerved ; lateral, acute, somewhat gibbous at base, erect, falcate 

 6 mm. 1., 2 mm. br. ; median, with acute apex, concave, 7 mm. L, 2 mm.br 

 Petals 3-nerved, oblong, somewhat falcate, acute, 6 mm. 1., 1*5 mm.br. 

 Lip very concave and embracing the column below, retuse and obscurely 

 3-lobed at apex, 2-lamellate on disk, as long as petals. Column 4*5 mm. 1. 

 Capsule 1 cm. 1., 3 mm. br. 



16. MALAXIS Solander ex Swartz.* 



Terrestrial herbs, base of stem generally pseudobulbous. 

 Leaves 1 or 2, broad, not jointed with the sheathing petiole. 

 Scape slender, elongated. Flowers small or minute in a terminal 

 raceme, sometimes contracted and corymbose. Bracts small, 

 narrow. Sepals nearly equal, free or lateral slightly connate at 

 base, spreading. Petals equal to sepals or a little shorter, narrow. 

 Lip sessile, entire or lobed, with auricles embracing the column, 

 not extending as far as the sepals, but, including the auricles, 

 longer than the sepals. Column very short, terete, hollowed at 

 apex. Anther terminal, incumbent, two-celled. Pollinia 4, waxy, 

 ovoid. Capsule small, ovoid or turbinate. 



Species about 140, widely distributed, but mainly in Central 

 America and Indo-Malaya. 



* Swartz adopted the name Malaxis from Solander and defined the 

 genus in Prodr. 119 (1788), including therein the two Jamaican species 

 M. spicata and M. umhelliflora. This name must therefore be retained for 

 these and for the other species now included under Microstylis. The latter 

 name is cited by Bentham & Hooker (Gen. PL iii. 494) as of Nuttall (Gen. 

 N. Amer. PI. ii. 196), but Nuttall uses it only for a section of Malaxis. 

 Microstylis was first used as a generic name by Lindley (Orch. Scelet. & 

 Gen. & Sp. Orch.). 



