104 ORCHIDS OF JAMAICA 



Hanover, 600 ft., Fawcettl Content Road, 3000 ft., Harris \ Savanna-la- 

 Mar, Lister Clark. Fl. Jam. 10,391, 10,427. 



Plant rising to 3 ft. high and more. Pseudohulb narrowly spindle- 

 shaped, compressed, of several joints, 12-35 cm. 1., 2*5-3 cm, br. Sheaths 

 8-13 cm. 1., reduced to 2 cm. 1. at base. Leaves 1-3 dm. 1., 4-6 cm. br. 

 Peduncle 6-9 dm., with sheaths which become spathaceous and crowded 

 and spreading at base of raceme; sheaths 5-6*5 cm. 1., acute, sometimes 

 with purplish-brown spot. Raceme 7-12 cm. 1. Bracts linear-lanceolate, 

 acuminate, reflexed, 5*5-7*7 cm. 1., to 6 mm. br. Flowers white spotted 

 with purple, perianth about 1 in. 1. Pedicels 5-5*5 cm. 1., slender. 

 Ovary a little over 1 cm. 1. Sepals 7-nerved, ovate-oblong, obtuse, very 

 shortly apiculate, with undulate, crispate margin, 2*2-2*3 cm. 1., 9-10 

 mm. br., lateral somewhat falcate and broader than median. Petals 

 6-nerved, similar to sepals but longer and slightly broader, apex rounded, 

 2*6 cm. 1., 11 mm. br. Lip 5-nerved, outer nerves branching, nerves 

 prominent, sometimes lamellate ; with yellowish edge, otherwise somewhat 

 the same colouring as the sepals and petals, sometimes dull violet with 

 crimson ribs, shorter than sepals, entire, ovate, very shortly clawed, with 

 undulate crispate margin, apex bluntish, 1*6 cm. 1., about 12 mm. br. 

 (flattened). Column curved, about 1 cm. 1. ; lateral lobes of clinandrium 

 somewhat larger than median. Anther with 2 horn-like processes on the 

 top. Capsule 3-4 cm. 1., and 1*7-1*8 cm. br. 



35. BRASSAVOLA R. Br. 



Epiphytic herbs. Stems scarcely thickened, sympodial, 

 springing from the contracted base of the next older stem, with 

 one or two sheaths covering the contracted base, with a few lax 

 ash-coloured scarious sheaths above, and one leaf. Leaves thick 

 and fleshy, conduplicate, almost half cylindrical, linear, tapering 

 to a subulate apex. Flowers terminal, on an elongated peduncle, 

 racemose, stalked. Bracts short. Ovary very slender. Sepals 

 free, equal, spreading, long, linear, acuminate. Petals similar to 

 the sepals, but slightly shorter and narrower, narrowly linear- 

 lanceolate. Lip with a long involute serrate claw ; blade 

 roundish, acuminate, entire. Column very short, clinandrium 

 3-lobed, the median toothed at the apex. Anther attached to the 

 median lobe of the clinandrium, opercular, incumbent, with two 

 distinct cells, each cell divided into two smaller cells by a 

 longitudinal partition ; poUinia 8, four in each cell, broadly ovate 

 and compressed in the same direction, connected by a granular, 

 linear or blade-shaped appendage. Capsule large, ellipsoidal, 

 3-keeled, beaked. 



Species about 22, natives of tropical America from the West 

 Indies and Mexico to Argentine. 



Flowers few, perianth 2-3 inches 1 1. B. nodosa. 



Flowers many, perianth IJ-lf inch long 2. B. cordata. 



1. B. nodosa Lindl. Gen. & Sp. Orch. 114 (1831) ; flowers few ; 

 sepals longer than ovary with pedicel, 5-7 • 5 cm. 1. ; blade of 

 lip roundish, 3-5 cm. 1., claw 17-25 mm. 1. — Lindl. in Bot. Beg. 



