EriaJ] CXLVIII. ORCHIDEJ;. (J. D. Hooker.) 785 



the generic character, the original Q. nebulosum, Bl. (Miq. Choix, t. 26), of Java, having 

 broad petals, no arms to the column, and the mentum spur-like. A figure of this by 

 Scortechini represents a pendulous plant with 2 double pollinia sessile on a broad 

 semilunate gland ? (he has no specimens). Reichenbach's Bornean 0. simplex can 

 hardly be a congener. 



19. ERIA, Lindl. 



Epiphytes of various habit. Flowers never large or bright-coloured. 

 Sepals free (very rarely connate), adnate to the elongate foot of the column, 

 and with it forming a short or long and spur-like or saccate mentum 

 (mentum in E. leiophylla). Lip sessile on the foot of the column and 

 incumbent (mobile in E. pulcliella and barbata). Anther imperfectly 4- 

 or 8-celled ; pollinia normally 8, pyriform or broadly obovoid, attached in 

 fours by narrow bases to a viscus. Species upwards of 100, Tropical 

 Asiatic. 



Perhaps the most polymorphous genus of Orchids, and very .difficult of division 

 into definable groups. Though never confounded with Detfdrobium, the only 

 available distinctive character between these is the oblong pollinia of the latter 

 genus, and more or less pyriform of Eria. In the following descriptions of the 

 species, I have omitted many characters of the column, anthers, and pollen that are 

 doubtless of first-rate importance, but cannot be sufficiently well detected or 

 examined in dried specimens as to afford safe sectional characters. I am unable to 

 retain as sections UrostacJiya and Cylindrolobus. The monotypic sections Xipho- 

 sium, Dilochiopsis, and Pellaianthus, are aberrant. ~E. pulohella, Lindl. (Callo- 

 stylis, Blume), should form a section (or genus), if the lip is, as Blume says, mobile; 

 perhaps together with E. barbata, which, according to Griffith, has a tremulous lip. 

 The thickened nerves, calli, &c., of the lip in many species are very variable in 

 development ; and considerable allowance must be made for faulty characters due to 

 the unsatisfactory condition of complicated organs that have been dried for years, 

 and restored by maceration or boiling. 



KEY TO THE SECTIONS. 



I. POEPAX, Lindl. (Gen.). Small species. Pseudobulbs depressed, clothed 

 with reticulated sheaths, 2-leaved. Leaves sessile, membranous, caducous. Flowers 

 1-3, subsessile on the top of the pseudobulb j sepals free or connate ; column very 

 short. Species 1-5. 



II. CONCHIDITJM, Griff. (Gen.). Small species. Pseudobulbs naked or sheathed, 

 and leaves as in Porpax. Flowers solitary or few, on a slender scape from the top 

 of the pseudobulb. Sp. 6-9. 



III. BETOBIUM, Lindl. (Gen.). Small species. Pseudobulbs ovoid or depressed, 

 2-3-leaved. Leaves membranous. Scape from between the leaves, filiform. Flowers 

 racemose, small, glabrous. Sp. 10-15. 



IV. EEIUBA, Lindl. Stem tall (rarely short), terete, leafy. Leaves distichous, 

 long, narrow. Flowers minute, woolly, in subterminal spikes, racemes or fascicles j 

 lateral sepals short, broad; column very short. T Sp. 16-20. 



V. MYCAEANTHES, Blume (Gen.). Pseudobulbs on a creeping rhizome, elongate, 

 cylindi-ic or clavate, naked. Leaves 2-3, terminal, narrow. Flowers minute, woolly, 

 in secund spikes from the side of the pseudobulb or from between the leaves. Sp. 

 21, 22. 



VI. HYMENEEIA, Lindl. (and UEOSTACHYA, Lindl.). Pseudobulbs short or 

 long, l-oo -noded, often forming a fleshy stem, or crowded on the creeping rhizome. 

 Flowers small or medium-sized, glabrous or pubescent, rarely woolly, in lateral or 

 subterminal spikes or racemes. 



* Flowers small or minute, in dense spikes, racemes or clusters. Sp. 23-27. 

 ** Flowers small or medium-sized, in lax spikes or racemes. Sp. 28-51. 

 *** Flowers medium-sized, 1-3, long-pedicelled, on a short subterminal scape 

 with as many large spreading white or coloured bracts. Stem erect, elongate, 



3 E 2 



