﻿134 PROF. REICHENBACH ON THE ORCHIDS COLLECTED BY 



gathered at Taka, in Nepal, 1821 (and unluckily combined with an Eria of the sectio 

 Fhreatia, the Upidendmm myosurus of Porster), has appeared once more in the present 

 collection, and in such a state as to enable me to give a full description. 



2. Much more fortunate for us was the rediscovery of the genus Monomeria of Dr 



Lindley. It has only been found once by Wallich's collectors. When Dr 



Lindley 



described it, he regarded it as the only Orchid that had no petals, though he afterward 

 found a similar instance in Aviceps; and I have observed it in ^n Acianthus. The 

 Lindleyan dictum as to Monotneria proves, however, to be a mistake, very easily under- 

 stood from the miserable state of his specimen. The petals were ascertained to be 

 present in the Moulmeinese plant ; and I afterwards observed them in the Nepalese 

 plant also. Thus the plant would have been degraded to a very indifferent BulhophyU 

 Imn if Mr. Parish had not observed that it bore the full poUen-apparatus of the VandecB, 

 I have the fullest belief in the statement, but feel very sorry I could not see it myself* 

 since no anthers were at my disposal. 



It is a very 



cumstance that Orchids appear to change a good deal under 



and Bolbophyll 



climatic influences. Such altered forms I have retained as subspecies; but to any .__ 

 who judged the plants not by dissection of the flower, but by general appearance, they 

 would appear to be new species, as, for instance :^ CQ?%y?^^ ochracea, subspecies con- 

 ferta, a stout little plant, exceedingly unlike the taU Assam form 

 cupreum, subspecies stemsepalmn. 



Aerldes crassifolimi might be mentioned as a third instance. It is closely alhed to 

 Aerides falcatum, Lindl. {A. LarpentcB of gardens), of which the geographic origin ap- 

 pears to be unknown up to the present day. I have been induced, however, by the very 

 different shape and thickness of the leaves, to keep it as a species, the more so as the 

 colours of the flowers are very different. I may have made a mistake in doing so. 



Vegetable morphology, finally, has gained something by the coUection of Rabenaria 

 pelonoidcs, a JLahenaria having six nearly equal parts of the perigonium, like a ^cilla or 

 an Ormthogalum, without any spur. It is a very remarkable instance, bearing a highly 

 curious analogy to the weU-known JDendroUum normale, Pale, and the Aclinia of Grif- 

 fith, notes on which, by Dr. Lindley, are to be found in the Journal of the Linnean Society, 

 vol. 111. pp. 9-11. 



Bulhophjllmn Umniscatum, however, is the greatest glory of all the discoveries of 

 Mr. 1 arish, a Bulbophyllum having, at the point where the chief vascular bundle of the 

 sepals ends, a long, thin, nearly cylindrical, horny body, half pellucid, with ten wmgs 

 radiating from the thin filiform axis, like the spokes of a wheel. This organ is deciduous- 

 Whether it has any use in the economy of the plant, or is a beautiful ornament only, we 

 T^ f • 1 -ar ^^^ ^^""''^ flowered at Kew ; and a figure was given by Dr. Hooker in the 

 Botanical Magazine for 1872 (tab. 5971). The minute investigation of these 



do not know 



exceedingly difficult, on account of their thinness and want of entire peUucidrty 

 hopL to give a better account in a short time. The o.lv fT..'.. L'V. .!,........« w 



I 



The only thing like those organs which 



Ino ^^-x« i,-4.i J. , , ^ ""V i-iA^ni? liJie inose origans 



l\LiJ fT""^ '' ^^ ^- ^^^^^'« J-^-- genus ^^/m«.^te, whei 



threads are represented in lieu of the petals. ^ * 



After these few general remarks I proceed to give the list of the species, with 



