44 ORCHIDS OF JAMAICA 



17. LIPARIS L. C. Rich. 



Terrestrial herbs ; stems leafy, short, thickened into a corm 

 or narrow pseudobulb. Leaves one, two or few, springing either 

 from the base of the corm or from the nodes of the pseudobulb, 

 or from below it, with a sheathing leaf -stalk, membranous, 

 conspicuously many-nerved. Flowers small or medium-sized, 

 greenish or purple, in a terminal stalked raceme. Bracts small, 

 narrow. Sepals free, spreading, about equal. Petals narrower. 

 Lip attached to the base of the column, oblong or expanded 

 into a broad spreading or reflexed blade, entire or emarginate. 

 Column long, incurved, half -terete, without a foot, at the apex 

 on both sides margined or appendiculate with a wing ; clinan- 

 drium short. Anther terminal, opercular, incumbent ; pollinia 4, 

 waxy, ovoid, sometimes acuminate, segregated in pairs in the 

 cells, each pair superposed. Capsule generally small, ellipsoidal 

 or obovoid. 



Species about 200, widely dispersed through the temperate 

 and warmer regions of the globe. 



Leaf one. 



Leaf oblong or lanceolate. Corm present... 1. L. vexillifera. 



Leaf roundish, cordate. Pseudobulb present 2. L. neuroglossa. 

 Leaves two. 



Lip greenish, i in. 1. Pseudobulb present. . . 3. L. Harrisii. 



Lip purple, J m. 1. Corm present 4. L. Saundersiana. 



three or more 5. L.elata. 



I. L. vexillifera Cogn. in Fl. Bras, iii.pt. 4, 289 (1895) ; with 

 corm ; leaf one, oblong-elliptical to oblong-lanceolate, acute to 

 subobtuse ; lip pale yellow with reddish-brown veins, or altogether 

 reddish-brown, 3-nerved, middle nerve prominent, lower half 

 broadly roundish, conduplicate ; upper half broadly oblong- 

 elliptical or roundish, recurved ; at base sub-cordate, apex obtuse, 

 somewhat apiculate. — Gogn. in Symh. Ant. vi. 377. L. elliptica 

 Beichh.f. in Walj). Ann. vi. 218(1861); Griseh. Fl. Br. W. Ind. 

 612; Bidl. in Journ. Linn. Soc. xxii. 265. L, jamaicensis Lindl. 

 ex Griseh. Gat. Guh. 261 (1866). Cymbidium vexilliferum Llave 

 & Lex. Nov. Veg. Descr. ii. 7 (1825). 



On damp clayey banks; in fl. and fr. Nov.-Feb ; Wiles; Macfadyenl 

 Hollis Savanna, Clarendon, Purdie ! below Cinchona, J.P. 237, Morris ! 

 Mt. Moses, 3000 ft., J.P. 2443, Syme ! Clydesdale, 4500 ft., Fawcett ! 

 Cinchona, C. Nichollsl Westphalia, 4000 ft.; Clydesdale; Mt. Hybla, 

 4000 ft. ; Cinchona, 4800-5000 ft. ; Harris 1 Fl. Jam. 7528, 7751, 7842, 

 9512, 9791, 9788.— Cuba, Porto Rico, Trinidad, Mexico, Guatemala, 

 Colombia, Venezuela, B. Guiana, Ecuador, Argentine (var.), Bolivia. 



Plant 4-11 in. high. Stem swollen below the ground into a spherical 

 corm, covered by the sheathing leaf-stalks and one or two sheaths, upper 

 sheath sometimes foliate above. Leaf blade 7-12 cm. 1., 1*5-3 '5 cm. br. ; 

 stalk sheathing, sometimes very short. Scape 1-3 dm. 1., angled or winged. 



