80 CXLVIII. ORCHIDE^. (J. D. Hooker.) [Acriopsis. 



SINGAPORE ; at Bukit Mandi, Ridley. 



Pseudobulbs broadly ovoid, compressed. Leaves 3-4 in., linear, olive green. 

 Scape simple (always?); raceme lax-fld.; flowers yellow, sparsely spotted with 

 crimson ; lip white, lamellae crimson. 



72. PODOCHXX.US, Blume. 



Stems tufted, erect or diffuse. Leaves many, uniform, distichous, flat 

 or equitant and laterally compressed. Peduncles terminal or leaf-opposed ; 

 flowers minute, racemed or spicate ; bracts persistent. Lateral sepals 

 adnate with the prolonged foot of the column and together at the base, 

 forming a mentum. Petals broad or narrow. Lip clawed, jointed to the 

 foot of the column, mobile (always ?) erect, with a basal appendage. 

 Column very short ; rostellum terminal, triangular, erect, bifid or bipar- 

 tite ; anther erect ; pollinia 4, each pair half enclosed in a calyptriform 

 stipe fixed by a gland to the top of the rostellum. Capsule very small, 

 ellipsoid. Species 12 or more, Indian and Malayan. 



The flowers of all the species want careful examination on a living state. There 

 are great differences in the columnar structure and pollinia that cannot be satisfac- 

 torily determined from dried specimens. These last are almost in all cases deficient 

 in flowers, which are easily detached, and so minute as to escape the notice of 

 collectors. 



* Leaves equitant, laterally compressed, not articulate with the sheath. 

 Flowers secund, on inclined or decurved lax-fld. racemes. 



1. P. cultratus, Lindl. in Watt. Cat. 7336; Gen. & Sp. Orchid. 

 234 ; in Journ. Linn. Soc. iii. 37 ; leaves ensiform subfalcate acute, lip 

 cuneately oblong truncate 5-nerved, base saccate. 



TROPICAL HIMALAYA; Nepal, Wallich; Sikkim, J. D. H. ASSAM, Masters. 

 CACHAR, Clarke. TENASSERIM ; the Attran River, Parish. 



Stem 3-7 in., with the leaves | in. broad. Leaves | in., many nerved. 

 Peduncle short, decurved ; bracts ovate-lanceolate ; flowers |- in. long ; dorsal sepal 

 broad, 5-nerved, lateral subacute ; petals broadly obovate, acute, 3-uerved ; mentum 

 saccate; base of lip broad. Capsule % in. The lip resembles that of an 

 Appendicula ; 1 doubt its being articulate and mobile. 



2. P. falcatus, Lindl- Gen. & Sp. Orchid. 234: leaves ensiform 

 obtuse, lip narrowly clawed oblanceolate 3-nerved, base with a short 

 notched appendage. Thwaites Enum. 306. 



CEYLON ; Central Province, alt. 3-6000 ft., common. 



Habit of P. cultratus, but stems longer, 6-12 in. Hostellvm with an involute 

 top, round which the capillary tails of the pollinia are curved, gland minute. In 

 var. angusfata, Thw. (C.P. 3889), the leaves are so closely appressed to one another, 

 that not even the points are free, and the breadth of the stem across the leaves is 

 only ^ in. 



3. P. malabaricus, Wight Ic. t. 1748, fig. 2 ; leaves obtuse, spike 

 many-fld. much longer than the leaves, mentum very short, lip linear- 

 lanceolate obtuse contracted in the middle. Walp. Ann. vi. 893. 



MALABAR, Jerdon ; Wynaad jungles, Drew. TRAVANCOBE, Johnson. 



Stem 3-5 in., fleshy, ^ in. across the leaves. Leaves % in , straight. Spike 

 1-H iu-> inclined or horizontal, few-fid. ; bracts broadly ovate ; flowers white tipped 

 with pink ; petals lanceolate ; lip constricted in the middle. I have seen no flowers. 

 Wight's expression of lip contracted in the middle probably implied that the basal 

 appendage is as large as the blade. Probably not different from P. falcatus. 



