310 ORCHIDS OF THE SIKKIM-HIMALAYA. 
usually solitary (rarely in pairs), borne on a scape or at the apex of the leafy stem 
Sepals spreading, valvate or imbricate in zstivation, the dorsal large, erect; the lateral 
pair smaller, narrower, and usually connate under and behind the lip. Petals free, 
varying in shape; often very long. Lip sessile with small narrow auricle-like often 
inflexed side lobes and a large inflated saccate mid-lobe. Column short, terete ; anthers 
two, sub-globose, the cells parallel, contiguous, pollen viscid or glutinous. Stigma forming 
a convex often rugulose dise, deflexed and hidden by the large disciform fleshy 
staminode. Ovary l-celled. Species about 80; temperate and tropical Asia and America, 
also in Europe. 
SUB-GENUS I.—Puphiopedilum.—Stemless; leaves perennial, coriaceous, ever- 
green, crowded near the ground, often coloured; flower 
solitary on a long scape ; perianth deciduous; sepals 
imbricate in spicas the dorsal eem de the lateral 
BE. уз ү, А è 6 2 о 1. С. venustum. 
бсв-сехсв II.—Eu-cypripedium.—Leaves membranous,  plieate, deciduous, 
borne on а more or less elongated annual stem; flowers 
at the apex of the stem, usually solitary, marcescent ; 
sepals valvate in æstivation, 
Leaves two, opposite. . 4. . « » « » e » » . & C. elegans. 
Leaves more than two, alternate. 
Floral bract eymbiform, opening of the spur oblong; 
staminode deeply eordate at the base, the auricles 
angled, its upper surface with a vertical ridge . 3. С. tibeticum. 
Floral bract flat, opening of the spur -irregularly 
orbicular, not oblong ; staminodes shortly cordate 
at the base, the auricles rounded, the upper 
surface not ridged . E x ёа = . 2. О. himalaicum. | 
1. OYPRIPEDIUM VENUSTUM, Wall. in Bot. Mag., t. 2129; Cat. 7023. 
Leaves five to seven, elliptic-oblong, somewhat loriform, acute and minutely bifid at 
the apex, dark green, marbled with pale green above and dull purple beneath, thick 
in texture, sheathing at the base; length 4 to 10 in., breadth 1 to 2 in. Peduncle 
nearly twice as long as the ES terete, puberulous, usually only 1-flowered 
(sometimes 2-flowered). Flower 2 to 2:5 in. in diam.; floral bract oblong, acute, 
tubular, only half as long as the ribbed ovary. Sepals imbricate in sestivation, the 
dorsal broadly ovate or cordate, acute, erect, somewhat concave; the lateral pair much 
narrower, lanceolate, united under the lip. Petals longer than the dorsal вера! and 
lip, spreading horizontally, linear sub-spathulate, the lower edge rounded, the upper 
reflexed near the apex, the edges ciliate except at the reflexed part, the inner surface 
with seven parallel nerves, sparsely warted and pubescent. Zip longer than the dorsal 
sepal, sub-cylindric, the edges of its mouth reflexed. Staminode broadly semi-lunar, 
notched at the middle of the upper edge. Lindl. Gen. and Spec. Orch. 530; Hook. 
Exot. Flor, t. 35; Bot. Mag., t. 2129; Bot. Reg., t. 788; Reichb. Fl. Exot, 100; 
Lodd. Bot. Cab., 585; Warner Sel. Orch. II, t. 24; Veitch Man. 53; Hook. fil. Fl. Br. 
Ind. VI, 173. Krüntzlin Orch. Gen. et Spec. I, 86. С. pardinum, Reichb. fil. in Gard, 
Chron. (1869), 5:4; and 1887, І, 382, fig. 76 (var. pardina). | | 
