82 RKXANTHERA. 



RENANTHERA. 



Loureiro, Fl. cocbinch. II. p. 521 (1790). Lindl. Gen. et Sp. Orch. p. 217 (1832). Benth. 

 et Hook. Gen. Plant. III. p. 577 (1883). 



Renanthera includes five or six species, natives of tropical Asia 



and the Malay Archipelago, of which the two here described are 



well known in cultivation,* The only other species known to us 



to have been in cultivation, but which seems to have been long 



since lost, is Renanthera micrantha (erroneously figured in the 



Botanical Register, 1843, t. 41, as R. matutina), which was sent by 



Cuming from the Philippine Islands, and flowered at Chatsworth in 



December, 1842. The structure of the column, and especially of 



the pollinary apparatus of Renanthera, indicates a close affinity with 



Aerides and Vanda, to one or other of which most of the species 



except the type were in the first place referred, but the different 



form of the perianth, more particularly the lateral sepals, which are 



usually longer than the other segments and are parallel or nearly 



so, clearly distinguishes Renanthera from both those genera. The 



generic name, from ren, ''a kidney," and anthera, refers to the 



kidney-shaped pollinia, but that form is by no means peculiar to 



this genus. 



Renanthera coccinea. 



Stems cylindric, as thick as the little finger, 7 — 10 or more feet long, 

 leafy upwards. Leaves oblong, 4 — 5 inches long, amplexicaul, obliquely 

 emargmate and very leathery. Panicles from opposite one of the upper 

 leaves, 2 — 3 feet long and bearing from 100 to 150 flowers; bracts scale- 

 like, roundish ovate, brownish red. Flowers 3| inches across, vertically ; 

 upper sepal and petals linear-spathulate, bright red spotted with yellow, 

 the petals a little narrower and shorter than the sepal ; lateral sepals 

 clawed, oblong, lobate on the inner side near the base, deep vermilion- 

 red ; lip small, sessile on the base of the column, with a conical saccate 

 spur beneath, three-lobed, the side lobes erect, truncate, pale yellow 

 streaked on the inner side Avith red ; the intermediate lobe ovate, 

 acuminate, reflexed, deep red with a pale yellow bi-lamellate callus at 

 the base. Column terete, wingless, deep red. 



Renanthera coccinea, Lour. Fl. cocliinch. II. p. 637 (1790). Lindl. in Boi. Reg. t. 

 1131 (1828). Id. Gen. et Sp. Orch. p. 217. Bot. Mag. t. 2997-8 (1830). Paxt. Mag. 

 Bot. IV. p. 49 (1838), Warner's iiel. Orch. II. t. 37. Hook. f. Fl. Brit. Ind, VI. 

 p. 48. 



* The essential characters of the genus will be readily derived from the descriptions of these 

 two species. 



