OBERONIA. ] ORCHID ACEM. 183 



-Stems short. Leaves 1-2J in. long, broadly ensiform, straight or falcate, 

 acute, coriaceous. Peduncle of inflorescence, stout, shorter than the 

 leaves, terete, bracteate. Racemes erect or decurved, longer than the 

 leaves ; rbachis stout, deeply grooved in fruit. Flowers minute, 

 shortly stalked ; floral bract longer than ovary, ovate-lanceolate , 

 acuminate, the margins serrulate. Sepals and petals brownish - 

 yellow. Sepals ovate, acute, reflexed. Petals spreading, falcately 

 lanceolate, obtuse, longer and narrower than the sepals. Lip oblong 

 or subquadrate, green, the upper surface glistening with many gland- 

 like specks ; lateral lobes small, with truncate emarginate tips ; 

 the apey with two small incurved obtuse lobes separated by a broad 

 sinus. Anther obovate, its lip emarginate. Capsule J- in. long, 

 shortly stalked. 



Dehra Dun (Wallich, Falconer, Duthie, etc.). Common as an epiphyte 

 on mango trees. Flowers in Sep. DISTRIB. : Outer ranges of Hima- 

 laya from the Jumna to Sikkim, up to 3,500 ft.; also on the Khasia 

 Hills and in Chota Nagpur and in the Konkan. 



3. O. ensiformis, Lindl. Fol. Orch. Oberon. 4 ; F. B. I. V; 679 ; 

 King and Panil. in Ann. R. Bot. Gard. Calc. viii, 9, t. 9 ; Duthie id 

 4x, pt. 2, 86. 



2f-3] ft. long, Leaves 10-18 in. long and up to f in. wide, linear- 

 eniviform, acuminate, falcate. Inflorescence erect, shorter than the 

 leaves, subtruncate, its peduncle 2-2} in. long, bearing many 

 minute lanceolate appressed pale bracteoles ;, raceme about twice the 

 length of the peduncle ; its rhachis thick, fleshy, terete ; floral bracts 

 longer than the ovary, convolute, ovate-rotund, subacute, erose. 

 Flowers -^ in. long, not sunk in the rhachis, pale-brown. Sepals 

 reflexed, subequal, broadly ovate, subacute, entire not ciliolate. 

 Petals ovate, subacute, stiffly pubescent, the edges entire and ciliolate. 

 Lip twice as long as the sepals, 3-lobed, with two large rounded 

 entire basal lobes ; mesochile subquadrate, smooth, slightly concave, 

 bearing on its edges two large projecting blister-like processes ; ter- 

 minal lobe obreniform, with two rounded lobules separated by a 

 broad subquadrate apical sinus, the whole surface and margins of lip, 

 except the smooth mesochile, clothed with stiff hairs. 



Dehra Dun, chiefly on sal trees (Falconer, King, Mackinnon, Duthie). 

 Flowers during Nov. DISTRIB. : Up to 3,000 ft. on the adjacent 

 Himalaya, extending eastwards to Nepal, Sikkim and the Khasia 

 Hills ; recorded also from the Nilgiris. 



