POLYSTACHTA. 35 



POLYSTACHYA. 



Hook. Exot. Fl. t. 103 (1825). Benth. et Hook. Gen. Plant. JII. p. 540. 

 Polystacliya includes about forty species, chiefly African witli a few 

 outlying members in south India, Ceylon and Malaysia, and even sparingly 

 represented in tropical America. The genus, however, possesses so 

 little interest in a horticultural sense that it is only mentioned here 

 for the purpose of bringing under notice the two pretty dwarf species 

 described below. 



Polystachya Ottoniana. 



Pseudo-bulbs clustered, ovoid, |- inch long, prolonged at the apex into 



a slender, compressed stem 1 — 1| inch long, from the summit of which 



are produced tAVO linear, emarginate, grass-like leaves of imequal length, 



the longer one about 4 inches long, the shorter about half as long. 



Peduncles slender, issuing from between the leaves and as long as the 



shorter of the two, one-flowered. Flowers ^ inch in diameter, white, 



the sepals with a purple median line on the outside, and the lip with 



a yellow blotch on the disk ; dorsal sepal oblong, acute, the lateral 



sepals ovate, acute, adnate to the foot of the column, and forming with 



it and the base of the lip a broad mentum or chin ; lip oval-oblong, 



obscurely lobed, reflexed at the apex. Column semi-terete ; anther purple. 



Polystachya Ottoniana, Rchb. in Otto. Hamb. Gartenz. XI. p. 249 (1853). Bonpl. 

 III. p. 217 (1857). AValp. Ann. VI. p. 638 (1863). H. Bolas in Journ. Linn. Soc. 

 XXV. p. 186. P. capensis, Sanderson in Plarv. Thes. Cap. II. p. 51, t. 179 (1863). 



A very attractive little orchid when massed and in full bloom. 



It was introduced into German gardens in 1847 from South Africa, 



where it is plentiful in places in the eastern provinces from Uitenhage 



to Natal. Materials for description were sent to us from Burford 



Lodge. The species is named in compliment to Herr Otto, Director 



of the Botanic Garden at Hamburgh at the time of its introduction, 



P. pubescens. 



Pseudo-bulbs crowded, about the size of a small filbert, elongated, 

 di-triphyllous. Leaves oblong-lanceolate, 3 — 4 inches long, the first or 

 lowermost leaf where there are three, much smaller than the upper two 

 between which the erect peduncle arises. Peduncles longer than the 

 leaves, flattened below Avith sub-acute edges, pubescent ; racemose above, 

 12 — 20 flowered ; bracts triangular, acute. Flowers inverted, bright 

 yellow, the lip and inferior half of the sepals streaked with red ; sepals 

 ovate, acute; petals somewhat smaller, obovate-oblong, obtuse ; lip smaller 



