Spiranthes.'] OXLVIII. ORCHIDEJS. (J. D. Hooker.) 103 



imbricating, flowers in a dense cylindric spike. S. Wightiana, Lindl. in Wall. Cat. 

 7378. S. densa, A. Rich, in Ann. Sc. Nat. Ser. 2, xv. 79 : S. australis, Wight Ic. 

 t. 1724 (left-hand jig.}. Nilghiri Mts. 



2. S. autumnalis, Rich. Orchid. Europ. Ann. 57 ; glandular-pubes- 

 cent, root of elongate stout tubers, leaves in a tuft at the side of the flowering 

 stem ovate, bracts ovate-lanceolate acuminate exceeding the ovary, lip 

 oblong-panduriform glabrous, base 2-glandular. Lindl. Gen. & Sp. 

 Orchid. 469 ; in Journ. Linn. Soc. i. 277 ; Boiss. Fl. Orient, v. 90 ; 

 Reichl. Fl. t, 47. 



WESTERN HIMALAYA ; at Lohoo Ghat, Thomson (Fl. May). DISTRIB. Affghan- 

 istau, Caucasus to the Atlantic. 



Root of 2 fleshy fusiform or subcylindric tubers ^-1^ in. long. I/eaves l-l|in., 

 on a very short lateral stem that flowers in the following year. Scape with the 

 rather stout raceme 4-6 in. ; spike twisted : flowers secund greenish white, variable 

 in size, usually larger than in S. australis. This common European species has not 

 been recorded from any locality between the Caucasus and Affghanistan. Boissier 

 errs in describing the tubers as napiform. In Europe it flowers in October to 

 December ; in India and Affghanistan in April and May. 



88. NEOTTIA, Linn. 



Terrestrial erect brown leafless herbs ; rootstock with fibres, stem 

 simple laxly sheathed, flowers racemose. Sepals subequal, free, lanceo- 

 late, concave at length spreading, lateral falcate. Petals narrow. Lip pen- 

 dulous from the base of the column, larger than the sepals, 2-fid, base flat or 

 concave. Column erect or incurved, subterete; stigma transverse ; anther 

 erect or inclined forwards, cells contiguous ; pollen in loosely connected 

 masses, pendulous from the gland of the rostellum. Species 3, temperate 

 Europe and Asia. 



NEOTTIA STIIATEUMATICA, Br. Prodr. 319 (in note). In a note under Neottia 

 australis, Brown refers the Orchis strateumatica of Linnaeus (Plor. Zeylan. n. 319; 

 Sp. Plant. 1. i. 943) to Spiranthes, on the faith of a specimen in Hermann's 

 Herbarium ; but Linnaeus' character of " spur slender as long as the ovary " is 

 quite opposed to this determination. I do not know what it is. 



N. listeroides, Lindl. in Eoyle III. 368 ; Gen. & Sp. Orchid. 458 ; 

 in Journ. Linn. Soc. i. 176. N". Lindleyana, Dene in Jacquem. Voy, Sot. 

 163, t. 163. 



TEMPERATE HIMALAYA ; from Kashmir eastwards to Sikkim, alt. 5-10,000 ft. 

 in Kumaon, and 10-11,000 ft. in Sikkim. 



Stem with the raceme 8-14 in., high, stout or slender, stiff, flexuous ; sheaths 3-4, 

 lax. Raceme 6-12 in., lax-fld., laxly pubescent; bracts - in., sheathing, mem- 

 branous, as long as the erect pedicels ; flowers in. long, red brown; sepals trun- 

 cate, 1-nerved ; petals much narrower, margins convolute ; lip 2-3 times as long as 

 the sepals, linear-oblong, cleft into two ovate or linear-subacute parallel lobes from 

 a third of the way up, nearly flat with a dorsal ridge ; ovary pubescent. Capsule 

 in. long, ellipsoid, erect. 



89. IiISTERA. Br. 



Terrestrial erect 2-leaved herbs, with fibrous roots from a short root- 

 stock. Leaves broad, subopposite. Flowers rather small, racemed. Sepals 

 and petals subequal, free, spreading or reflexed. Lip pendulous from the 

 base of the column, usually longer than the sepals, narrow, entire or 2-fid. 



