MICROSTYLIS. 15 
Leafless and saprophytic or parasitic. 
Plant 8 to 6 in. high, tuber orbicular; dorsal sepal ` 
. reflexed and adpressed to the ovary; lip with a convex 
fold on its upper surface . А 4. M. saprophyta. - 
Plant 7 to 9 in. high, tuber Шанды diei ; doi 
sepal erect; upper surface of lip smooth . . . . 5. M. aphylla, 
Lip fleshy, concave, with two transverse calli; its anterior a 
9-lobed „зе rou pt Kk v % vni ber y. $0. М, бнри, 
Lip coneave, entire, its apex produced into а beak; basal auricles 
absent. 
Plant with a single leaf . . . . . 7. M. cylindrostachya. 
lau MI NUM V. (ue e v ue И 8. JM. muscifera, 
Lip hooded or deeply cup-shaped; the basal lobes short, rounded. 
Flowers numerous, only ‘2in.indiam. , . 4 €. > 9, M. Mazimowieziana. 
Flowers few, “5 to 75 in. in diam. . . . . . . . . 10. М. Josephiana. 
1. MicnosrYLIS KHASIANA, Hook: fil, Fl. Br. Ind, V, 686, 
Stem about 3 in. high, growing close to the base of the cylindrical leafless pseudo- 
bulb of the previous year. Leaves three or four, ovate-elliptic, slightly oblique, 4- or 
5-nerved, the apex acute or shortly acuminate, the base narrowed into the short 
sheathing petiole, the edges undulate; length 3 to 5 in., breadth 1 to 1:5 in, Raceme 
twice as long as the leaves; its peduncle ribbed, ebracteate. Floral bract lanceolate, 
reflexed, much shorter than the ovary. Flowers spreading, “25 in. long. Sepals broadly 
ovate, concave, the dorsal narrower and sub-acute; the lateral broader, more obtuse and 
more concave. Petals linear, truncate. Lip broad, concave, with two basal and one apical 
lobe; the basal lobes falcate, acute, their apices converging and overlapping ; the apical 
lobe separated from the two basal by a constriction, its outline transversely oblong, 
its apex broad, erose and somewhat incurved, or sometimes Жы if bifid without 
being erose. 
Sikkim-Himalaya ; : abundant between elevations of 3,000 and 6,000 feet; Pantling 
No. 983. Jaintia Hills, alt. 4,000 to 5,000 feet; Lobb, Rita, Mann; Крак: from 
July to October. 
The leaves of this beautiful species are of a lustrous greyish-green colour flushed 
with purple; the inflorescence with the pedicels and bracts of the flowers are of a dull 
purple, and the sepals and petals are purple, the lip being yellowish. There is a 
slight amount of variation in the terminal lobe of the lip. In some plants the lobe 
most truncate and erose, while in others it is somewhat rounded and minutely bifid; 
d between these there are intermediate stages. Exactly the same variation occurs 
= lants growing in the Jaintia Hills, as has been recently proved by the examination 
А Mr. Pantling of а large number of living plants kindly sent from these Hills 
W Mr. S. E. Rita, Assistant Commissioner there, 
Puare 17.—Microstylis Khasiana, Hook. 61. A plant, of natural size. Fig. 1 flower, fr ont dihi 
9 the same, seen from the side, 3 column, 4 vertical section of column and lip, 5 anther, 
6 pollinia; all enlarged. 
