OBERONIA, 5 
fleshy, terete, tapering, erect, equalling or slightly longer than its leaf; floral bract ovate- 
rotund, irregulariy but deeply serrate. Flowers minute (only "04 in. long’, pale brown, 
sunk singly in rather distant pits in the fleshy rachis, the sepals and lip lying flat on 
its surface. Sepals elliptic, obtuse, glandular on the back, not reflexed. Petals smaller 
than the sepals, linear-oblong, obtuse, sub-entire. Lip orbicular-elliptic, obtuse, con- 
cave, quite entire or very slightly erose at the apex, and with a deep depression 
at the base just under the column, Capsule short, turgid, often gibbous. 
Sikkim at elevations of from 2,000 to 4,000 feet, Pantling No. 105; extending 
westwards along the tropical zone of the Himalaya to Gharwal and Dehra Dun—Vicary, 
Gamble. Khasia Hills—G. Mann. Flowering in Sikkim from November to March. 
This species is very closely allied to 0. orbicularis, Hook. fil, from which it is 
distinguished only by its more distant and rather smaller flowers, which have nar- 
rower petals and broader anl much more irregularly toothed bracts. We have not 
found any Oberonia in Sikkim having exactly the characters of О. orbicularis, as they 
are given by Sir Joseph Hooker in his Flora of British India, or in his Century of 
Orchids (Ann. Bot. Gard. Cale, Volume V, 1, t. 1, where he describes and figures 
the species) The only locality given for it in Sikkim is Dikkiling, to which we 
venture to think it may have been attributed by some misplacement of collectors’ 
labels. At all events, we have failed to meet with it in Sikkim of recent years, 
The specimen of the plant which was the first to receive а name was collected 
in 1836 in the Khasia Hills by Mr. Gibson (a collector sent out by the Duke 
of Devonshire). It was sent to the Botanic Garden, Calcutta, to Dr. Wallich, who 
had a figure made of it, which still exists in the Herbarium, and on which is 
written, in Wallich's handwriting, ‘ O. phyllostachys”—a name of which Sir Joseph 
Hooker did not know the existence when he published the species as О, orbicularis in 
the Flora of Brit. India (vol. V, 677). 
The flowers of 0. orbicularis as figured by Sir Joseph Hooker (/.с.) have larger 
sepals, larger and differently-shaped petals from those of the Sikkim plant here 
figured. Moreover the floral bract is ovate acute and regularly finely serrate in that, 
whereas in this it is almost rotund and irregularly erose-serrate. Sir Joseph’s figure 
shows besides a raised fleshy margin to the nectary—a character which is wanting 
in this. 0. orbicularis is probably confined to the Khasia Hills. 
PLATE 3.—Oberonia pachyrachis, Reichb. fil. A plant; of natural size. Fig. 1 front view of a 
flower, 2 floral bract, 3 anther, 4 pollinia ; all enlarged. 
4. QBERONIA PACHYPHYLLA, new species, 
Stems very short, not tufted, Leaves very fleshy especially at the base, broadly 
lanceolate, acute, *5 to 1 іп. long and from :2 to ‘5 in. broad at the base. 
Peduncle of the inflorescence short, stout, not adnate to a leaf, with one to three 
lanceolate hyaline bracts. Spike 1:25 in. long, deflexed, thick, fleshy, terete, tapering 
towards the apex and also slightly towards the base. Flowers “04 in. long, not sunk 
in the rachis, covered while in bud by the broad ovate-rotund erose fleshy-based 
bracts. Sepals spreading, broadly-ovate, blunt, entire. Petals spreading, ovate-lanceolate, 
blunt, entire. Zip slightly shorter than the sepals and petals, obovate-rotund, with a 
deep pit at. its base just under the column; the margin 3-lobed; the side lobes 
long, very narrow, erose-dentate; the terminal lobe rounded, quite entire. 
