98 CIRRHOPETALIW. 



latest-formed pseudo-bulbs, slender, erect, longer than the leaves, bearing 



at their summit an umbel of 5 — 7 flowers somewhat less than an inch 



across ; sepals and petals pale yellow spotted with red, all of oval form, 



the lateral sepals the largest, the petals the smallest, the dorsal sepal 



being intermediate in size ; lip very small, cordate-oblong, emarginate, 



reflexed, white with purple blotch and spots. Column very short, 



winged and with a small horn on each side of the anther case. 



Balbophyllum umbellatum, Lindl. Gen. et Sp. Orch. p. 56 (1831). Id. Bot. Reg. 

 1845, t. 44. Bot. Mag. t. 4267. 



First discovered by Dr. WallicIYs collectors, in Nepaul, in 1821, 

 but not known as a garden plant till Gibson sent it from the Khasia 

 Hills to Chatsworth, where it flowered for the first time in 1838. 

 It has occasionally been re-introduced since along with other orchids 

 from the lower Himalayan zone. 



Although the flowers are produced in umbels like the Cirrhopetala, 

 to which this species closely approaches, it may easily be distin- 

 guished from them by its broad lateral sepals that are not parallel. 



CIRRHOPETALUM. 



Lindl. Bot. Reg. sub. t. 832 (1824). Id. Gen. et Sp. Orch. p. 58 (1831). Benth. et Hook. 

 Gen. Plant. III. p. 504 (1883). 



The genus Oirrhopetalum was founded by Lindley upon 0. 

 Thouarsii, which he separated from Bulbophyllum on account of its 

 differing from all the species of that genus then known, in various 

 characteristics, some of which are described below. Many years 

 afterwards, Lindley's Oirrhopetalum was again merged into Bulbo- 

 phyllum, by Reichenbach, but subsequently retained by him in 

 articles published in the Gardeners' Chronicle* It is also retained 

 by Bentham and Hooker in the Genera Plantarum, who include in 

 it the Btilbojjhyllojosis maculata, of Reichenbach. The genus con- 

 sists of about thirty species, the greater part of which are East- 

 Indian, or are natives of the Malay Archipelago. One is reported 

 from Mauritius, another from China, and a third from Australia; 

 the Australian species is, however, anomalous, and is referred by 

 some botanists to Oirrhopetalum and by others to Bulbophyllum.t 



* Walper's Annales Botanices, VI. (1861), p. 261. Gard. Chron. XVI. (1881), p. 70, and 

 XVIII. (1882), p. 424. 



t Cirrhopetalum Makoyanum (Rchb. in Gard. Chron. XI. (1879), p. 234), is said to have 

 been introduced from the province of Minas Geraes, in Brazil. 



