64 CALANTHE. 



depression about an inch below the apex. Scapes hairy, 12 — 15 inches 



high, loosely racemose, 7 — 10 tlowered ; bracts oblong, acute, half as 



long as the stalked ovaries Flowers scarcely an inch in diameter ; 



sepals and petals ligulate, acute, rose-puri)le, tlic petals broader than the 



sepals ; lip with a wedge-shaped base that is convolute over the column, 



and a dilated, undulate blade that is light rose-pur]de dotted with dark 



purple, white at the base ; spur filiform, hairy, shorter than the ovary. 



Column semi-terete, sliort, white at the base, light rose at the apex. 



Calanthe labrosa, Rcbb. in Gaid. Cliiou. XIX. (1883), p. 44. Limatodes labrosa, 

 Rchb. in Gard. Chron XI. (1879), p 202. 



Sent to us in 1878 by a correspondent in southern Burmah, who 



gave no locality ; it lias now almost disappeared from cultivation. 



It is noticed in this place chiefly on account of its participation in 



the parentage of one of the most distinct race of hybrid Calanthes 



yet raised — Calanthe porphyraa, G. lentiginosa and varieties. 



0. Masuca. 



LeaA^es oblong-lanceolate, or oval-oblong, acuminate, 9 — 15 inches long, 

 narrowed below into a fluted petiole. Scapes 1| — 3 feet high, with a 

 closely-appressed bract at each joint, and terminating in a crowded raceme 

 of purplish mauve flowers, on slightly twisted pale mauve pedicels 

 sheathed by a subulate-lanceolate bract ; sepals and petals similar, ovate- 

 oblong, acuminate ; lip deeper in colour than the other segments, three- 

 lol)ed, the basal lobes oblong, sub-falcate, the intermediate lobe transversely 

 roundish oblong, emarghiate ; spur slender, as long as the ovary, furrowed 

 on one side, bifid at the ti[) ; crest reddish brown, three-lobed. Column 

 very short. 



Calanthe Masuca, Lindl. Gen. et Sp. Orch. p. 249 (1832). Fol. Orch. Cal. No. 17 

 (1854). Bot Reg. 1844, t. 37. Bot. Mag. t. 4541. C. eniarginata, Wight, Ic. pi. 

 Ind. or. t. 918. Bletia Masuca, Don. Prod. Fl. nep. 30. 



Native of the lower Himalayan ranges of Nepal and Sikkim, also 



of the Neilgherries in the extreme south of India and in the 



Ambagamowa district in Ceylon, at 2.000 — 2,500 feet elevation. It 



was introduced by Messrs. Rollisson, in whose nursery at Tooting 



it flowered for the first time in this country in 1812. 



O. natalensis. 



"Leaves elliptic-lanceolate acuminate, 8 — 12 inches long and 3 — 5 

 inches broad, narrowed into a concave petiole. Scapes longer than the 

 leaves, terminating in a pyramidal raceme, 6 — 8 inches long. Flowers 

 1 — fl inches in diameter, pale lilac with a darker, redder lip, or with 

 the sepals and petals white suffused with lilac towards the margin only • 

 sepals ovate-lanceolate, acuminate ; petals rather shorter and broader ; 

 lip threedobed, the lateral lobes small, oblong, obtuse and curved ; mic^- 



