AND THEIR SYSTEMATICAL ARRANGEMENT. I03 



it at the base, and seem to confirm what Jussieu 

 says of its inseparability from the calyx ; but in 

 fact their separate insertion may easily be distin- 

 guished.* And genera also occur in which this 

 petal is situated upon the upper part of the style 

 itself, without the least connexion with the germen 

 or calyx (as in Pterygodium, Corycium), which is a 

 further confirmation that this part of the flower is 

 distinct from the others. I know but one single 

 genus, in which it is wanting ; and in this the 

 deficiency appears to be supplied by -two small 

 petals inserted at the sides of the sexual parts 

 (Lepanthes). . 



From the situation and form of this part of the 

 flower, I have been induced to call it the lip 

 (labellum). It is found of different forms, many- 

 parted, fringed, cut, inflated, coloured, and often 

 the whole beauty of the flower consists in it. 

 Sometimes it is furnished at its insertion, but very 

 seldom at the upper extremity (as in Aerides), 



* In some Epipactides (as Nidus avis) this petal, though fixed to the 

 style, appears to be united by its under surface with the skin of the germ 

 The same is the case with the hinder part of the spur in several Orchidet 

 But this is not a general rule. 



