110 ORCHIDS OF JAMAICA 



blade entire. Column short, erect, broadly winged at the apex 

 ■above the tube. Anther subterminal, incumbent, 2-celled. 

 Pollinia 8, waxy, narrowly pyriform. Capsule ellipsoidal, large. 

 Species about 138, widely distributed in tropics of the old 

 world, especially Asia, one or two in tropical America. 



C. mexieana Beichb. f. in Linnsea xviii. 406 (1844), Ic. 

 Fl. Germ. xiii. & xiv. t. 355, /. 5, 6, 7, & Xen. Orch. i. 205, 

 /. 79, i. 1-3. Ghiesbreghtia calanthoides A. Mich. & Gal. in 

 Ann. Sc. Nat. ser. 3, Hi. 28 (1845). (PL 20, f. 18-22.) 



Damp shady places ; in fl. June-Nov. ; near Cinchona, 4800 ffe., 

 Cradwick ! Watt 1 John Crow Peak, 5600 ft., Fawcett 1 Morse's Gap, 

 4800-5000 ft. ; Mabess River, 3500 ft. ; Harris ! Fl. Jam. 7790, 10,437.— 

 Cuba, Mexico. 



Plant more than a foot high. Stem with abundant roots and two 

 sheaths ; upper sheath 9 or 10 cm. Leaves two, oblong to oval, acute, 

 25-40 cm. 1., 7-11 cm. br. Sca])e 40-50 cm. Baceme 6-8 cm. Flowers 

 -white, ten or more, perianth ^ in. 1., all parts downy. Pedicels 3-5 mm. 

 Bracts 13-30 mm. 1., linear, acuminate. Sepals 11-12 mm. 1., 5-4 mm. br., 

 oblong, shortly acute, 5-nerved, median rather shorter and broader than the 

 lateral. Petals 8 mm. 1., 3 mm. br., obovate-lanceolate, obtuse, 3-nerved. 

 Lip (measuring from junction with tube) 6 mm. 1., 4 mm. br., subrotund, 

 shortly apiculate, entire (thus differing from the 3-lobed form generally 

 <jharacteristic of the genus). Capsule 2-2*5 cm. 1. 



41. BLETIA Ruiz & Pavon. 



Terrestrial, erect herbs. Leaves springing from the top of a 

 corm, few, very long, lanceolate, contracted into a sheathing 

 petiole. Scape rising from the side of the corm, leafless with 

 sheathing sterile bracts. Flowers numerous, stalked, somewhat 

 large, in a terminal generally branched raceme. Bracts small. 

 Sepals free, converging or somewhat spreading, subequal. 

 Petals similar to the sepals, but broader. Lip attached to 

 base of the column, free, erect, middle lobe spreading, broad, 

 emarginate ; lateral lobes somewhat broad, converging over the 

 oolumn ; disc with five to seven crests. Column long, semiterete, 

 2-winged, incurved, auricled at the base, without a foot. Anther 

 incumbent, two-celled. Pollinia 8, waxy, obovate. Capsule 

 oblong, erect. 



Species about 45, mostly in. tropical America. 



Flowers rosy-purple or purplish-crimson; lateral 

 lobes of lip broader below than above, and 

 with narrow apex 1. B. purpurea. 



Flowers dark purple; lateral lobesi of lip rounded 



above and narrowing towards the base 2. B. fiorida. 



1. B. purpurea DC. in Mem. Soc. Phys. & Hist. Nat. Geneve, 

 ix. jpt. 1, 100 (1841); flowers rosy-purple or purplish- crimson ; 

 lip with seven crests, only five of which pass into the middle 



