SCITAMINPCE. 229 



(not of Don). Platan thera constricta, Lindl. in Wall. Cat. 7043. 

 Herminium constrictum, Lindl. in Bot. Reg. under t. 1449. Peris* 

 tylus constrictus, Lindl. Gen. and Sp. Orch. 300. 



Tubers oblong, hairy. Stem stout, 2-3 ft. high, clothed at the base 

 with wide blunt sheaths. Leaves five or six, on upper portion of 

 stem, more or less whorled, 4-7 in. long, ovate-elliptic, acute or 

 acuminate, narrowed towards the long sheaths ; bracts on the pe- 

 duncle linear-lanceolate, acuminate. Spike broadly cylindric, 4-8 in. 

 long, many-and densely-flowered. Flowers spreading, white or pale 

 yellow, sweet-scented ; floral bracts large, erect, lanceolate, acuminate, 

 about as long as the ovary. Sepals subequal, J-f in. long, oblong, 

 obtuse, ciliolate ; lateral pair spreading, with involute edges. Petals 

 larger than the sepals, obliquely ovate-lanceolate, somewhat gibbous 

 on the lower side, spreading upwards in front of the dorsal sepals, but 

 not connivent to form a hooH. Lip as long as the petals, 3-lobed to 

 about the middle ; lateral lobes linear, acuminate, somewhat diverging 

 at their tips ; rnidlobe shorter, oblong, tapering to a blunt point. 

 Column very short and broad. Anther -cells close together but not 

 contiguous ; tubes none. Pollinia obovoid, caudicles short, tapering 

 to the large oblong-elliptic glands. Staminodes oblong, obtuse. 

 Stigmatic processes clavate, spreading. Bostellum erect, 2-fid. 



Siwalik range (Duthie) ; Dehra Dun, in sal forests (Mackinnon). Flowers- 

 during July and August. DISTEIB. : Outer Himalayan valleys in 

 Kumaonandin Sub-tropical Sikkim ; also in Assam, Chota Nagpur 

 and Chittagong, extending to Upper and Lower Burma. 



CVIII. SCITAMINECE. 



Herbs, often large, frequently with a pseudostem of convolute 

 leaf -sheaths, rarely with a woody candex. Leaves radical or 

 cauline, usually membranous ; sheaths generally large, clasping 

 the stem ; lamina with a strong midrib ; secondary nerves close 

 pinnate, parallel. Flowers 2 -sexual, rarely 1 -sexual (as in Musa), 

 irregular, solitary or spicate ; bracts membranous or herbaceous, 

 bracteoles membranous or none. Perianth 2-seriate, superior ; 

 outer segments 3, calycine, rarely petaloid, free and imbricate 

 or connate in an entire toothed or spathaceous tube ; inner seg- 

 ments, petaloid, connate in a long or short corolla-tube, free or 

 adnate to the petaloid staminodes ; limb 3 -partite, the segments 



