OECHIDACEAE. 87 



about 13-nerved, the petioles 1.5-3 mm. long; scape with several, narrow, 

 acute, bladeless sheaths 1-3 cm. long; spike slender, densely flowered, 2-7 cm. 

 long; bracts ovate-lanceolate, acuminate, 2-3 mm. long; ovary obovoid-oblong; 

 sepals 1-nerved, pinkish, rounded, about 1 mm. long; petals narrowly obovate 

 or oblong, obtuse, a little shorter than the sepals, white or pink; lip 3-nerved, 

 1-1.5 mm. long, the blade roundish, minutely auricled; capsule about 4 mm. 

 long. 



Coppices and shaded stone walls, Andros and New Providence : Florida ; Cuba 

 to Tortola and Guadeloupe; Jamaica. SMALL PRESCOTTIA. 



7. PONTHIEVA E. Br. in Ait. Hort. Kew. ed. 2, 5: 199. 1813. 



Terrestrial orchids with fibrous roots, tufted basal leaves, and small, 

 loosely racemose flowers on sheathed, erect scapes. Sepals spreading, the 

 lateral ones slightly inequilateral. Petals clawed, spreading, nearly triangular, 

 adnate to the short column, unsymmetrical. Lip adnate to the column, 

 clawed, concave, ascending, spurless. Anther shorter than the rostellum; 

 pollinia 4, in pairs, powdery, pendulous. Capsule ellipsoid. [Commemorates 

 de Ponthieu, who sent American plants to Sir Joseph Banks.] About 20 

 species, of tropical and warm temperate America. Type species: Neottia 

 glandulosa Sims. 



1. Ponthieva Brittonae Ames, Torreya, 10: 90. 1910. 



Boots clustered, slender, villous. Basal leaves about 4, oblong-lanceolate 

 to oblanceolate, 10 cm. long or less, acute at the apex, narrowed into petioles 

 1-2.5 cm. long; scape slender, 2-4 dm. high, bearing several oblong, acute 

 sheaths, pubescent above; raceme 1-2 dm. long, pubescent, several-many- 

 flowered; bracts oblong, acute or acuminate, about 5 mm. long; pedicels 

 ascending, 8-10 mm. long; sepals about 4 mm. long; petals lanceolate, obtuse, 

 a little longer than the sepals ; lip 3-lobed, subsaccate, 4.5 mm. long, the lateral 

 lobes rounded, the median lobe oblong. 



Pine-land near Fresh Creek, Andros, Maidenhead Coppice, New Providence : 

 Florida. MRS. BRITTON'S PONTHIEVA. 



8. PHYSURUS L. C. Eich. Mem. Mus. Paris 4: 55. 1818. 

 [ERYTHEODES Blume, Bijdr. Fl. Ned. Ind. 410. 1825.] 



Leafy-stemmed, terrestrial orchids, with thick, clustered roots, the leaves 

 broad, petioled, parallel-nerved and reticulate-veined, convolute in the bud, 

 the small flowers in a terminal spike. Sepals distinct, nearly equal, the small 

 petals cohering with the median, one. Lip erect, 3-lobed, embracing the short 

 column, produced below into a blunt pouch-like spur. Anther about as long as 

 the rostellum. Pollinia granular, pendent. Capsule ellipsoid to obong. 

 [Greek, referring to the pouch-like spur.] About 60 species, natives of 

 tropical and subtropical regions. Type species: Orchis plantaginea Willd. 



1. Physurus querceticola Lindl. Gen. & Sp. Orch. 505. 1840. 



Physurus Sagraeanus A. Eich. in Sagra, Hist. Cub. 11: 253. 1850. 



Stem slender, erect, glabrous, 3 dm. high or less. Leaves several, distant, 

 ovate to lanceolate, 2-6 cm. long, acute, acuminate, or the lower ones obtuse at 

 the apex, rounded or subtruncate at the base, the petioles 5-20 mm. long, their 



