102 SWARZ ON THE GENERA OF ORCHIDEjE, 



flowers. My reasons for this I shall give here- 

 after. Mean time, I consider the Orchidese as an 

 exception in this respect to the rest of Monocoty- 

 ledonous plants, which are destitute of a corolla. 



The lowermost third inner leaflet, situated 

 between and within the two outer leaves of the 

 calyx, and fixed opposite the uppermost outer one, 

 to the lower or upper end of the style, has been 

 called either the nectary itself or its under lip, 

 labium infer ius nectarii, by some; and considered 

 by others as a part properly belonging to the 

 corolla. I have the same idea, as I find this part 

 to have a fimilar insertion with other petals; 

 and, like a corolla, to be connected with the parts 

 of fructification. Nor can I consider it as a con- 

 tinuation of the cuticle of the germ ; not to 

 mention the remarkably anomalous form and con- 

 struction I generally find it possessed of. There, 

 are, indeed, genera in which it is not unlike the 

 leaf of the calyx, as in Thelymitra and others, 

 which have the divisions of the calyx united with 



* Borkhausen's botanisches Worterbuch (botanical dictionary) 

 I, JQO. a. 70. 



