OETHOEEHYXCH 



135 



repeats the habit, and largely the foliage, of P. instar and P. denudata, and seems restricted 

 to Nepal and Kamaon; and 



(0) " tibetica ;" shorter, ascending, petioles longer, leaves 3-nate or opposite, ovate -oblong, 

 pmnatisect, spikes subcapitate in flower, only slightly elongated in fruit. This form repeaU 

 the habit of P. confer -t\ 'flora, and seems confined to the Pan jab-Himalayan district. 



Don's description applies to the Nepal-Kamaon form only, but is excellent, and 

 emphasises the character of < obtuse ema dnate ap x of beak,' which is amne sufficient 

 to diagnose the species from all those to which it is closely allied There if at Cnlcutt 

 a sheet "ex herb. R. Brown," named P. brevifolia by Don himself, collected in 1819 in 

 Gosain Than by Wallich. With this plant Duthie's 1 umaon and Wait Nepal specimens 

 altogether agree. This, Dr. King tells me, is the plant named " P. lani>ra" ( Wall. Cat. 

 n. 419) at the rooms of the Linnean Society of London; it is also Wall. Cat. i . AW) 

 at Kew; and is, Mr. Maximowicz tells me, the plant of Wall. Cat n. 419 at St. Peters- 

 burg. At Calcutta, however, the specimen representing Wall. Cat n. • 19 is a plant wit! 

 alternate leaves, and is the densely- woolly form of P. carnosa that occurs along wit! 

 the normal form in the Kamaon and Punjab-Himalayan districts. This may well h« 

 the case in other herbaria also, and the fact is noted here to obviate misumlerstandini 



» 



i 



*- 



on the part of consultants. Both in the field and in herbaria form "vera" has ben 

 treated as a form of P. porrecta. Form " tibetica, " on the other hand, which 

 has been very generally accepted as "P. brevifolia,' 1 has had mixed with it two other 

 species — P. Heydei and P. confer tiflor a. The following are diagnoses of each of these 

 in turn: 





flowers numerous, spiked ; stamens inserted opposite top of ovary ; lobes 



of lip rounded; beak deeply emarginate, obtuse at ap< x ; leaves 

 usually 3-4-nate; plant hirsute P. brevifolia 



flowers few axillary ; stameDS inserted above middle of tube ; mid-lobe of 



Up rhomboid ; beak entire acute at apex ; leaves usually opposite ; 



plant glabrous 



P. porrecta. 



leaves oblong-ovate ; stamens inserted opposite top of ovary ; lip large 



3-fid equalling beak with emarginate obtuse apex ; roots fibrous . . P. brevfoha 



leaves na'rrowly lanceolate ; stamens inserted near apex of tube ; lip very 



small, margin sinuate, hardly lobed, much shorter than beak with 



entire acute apex ; roots fleshy 



P. lhydex 



bracts foliar; stamens inserted opposite top of ovary; beak obtuse 



P. brer 



b 



emarginate at apex ; corolla tube bardly exceeding caly 



„ 3-7-fid ; segments lanceolate ; stamens mserted m nuddl. of tube ; 



beak acute entke at a P e* , corolla tube twice as long as caly* ... P. confer** 



u:-V am known to have been mixed with P. brevifolia in 



Besides these species, which are known to na>e ue ? 



much resembles the typical variety of the next species, P. uutar. 1 he 



distribution, it 

 diagnosis is as follows 



lip 3- fid ; apex of beak obtuse emarginate 

 lip 3-partite ; apex of beak acute entire . 



P. brevifolia ; 



P. imtar. 





