1130 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL KLST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXI. 



giant Orchis, although commonly reported to be rare and nowhere 

 abundant, is certainly plentiful on the Bhoma HiU at Khandala, from which 

 place the plant does not seem to have been recorded before. After the 

 flowering is over and the fruiting is finished, the plant with the parent 

 root tuber gradually shrivels up and is ultimately withered in December 

 or January, leaving in the ground a healthy, young root-tuber crowned by 

 a well developed bud from which the flower stem shoots up afresh the 

 following season. 



The Marathi name of the plant is Wac/li chaora, meaning the metacarpus 

 of the tiger's foot. Among the Kath-Karis, Thakurs and other Marathi- 

 speaking people living on the Bhor Ghat, the root-tuber of the Giant Orchis 

 is believed to be a sovereign remedy for the cure of blebs or bullse, 

 specially those occurring on the metacarpus of the palm of the hand. These 

 blebs or buUte, on account of their supposed resemblance to the raised 

 metacarpus of the tiger's foot are known as Wagh chaora in the Deccan . 

 Hence the vernacular name of the plant. There are some persons who 

 believe that the plant is called Wagh chaora because the flower looks like 

 the claws or jaws of a tiger. 



Plate XI. The tapper part, of a plant with the inflorescence. 

 The generic name is given as Habenaria. 



(To he- continued.') 



