262 



THELYMITRA EPI PACTO I DES f F. V. M . , AN ORCHID NEW 

 TO THE STATE. 



[Read October 5, 1909.] 

 By R. S. Rogers, M.A., M.D. 



Plate XIX. 



This handsome orchid, hitherto recorded only from Vic- 

 toria, has reached me at intervals during the past four years, 

 from Meningie, Myponga, Goolwa, Inman Valley, and 

 Tailem Bend. In stature and general habit it rivals T. 

 grandiflora (Fitz.), though structurally T. ixioides must be 

 regarded as a nearer ally. 



Description. — A robust plant, varying in height in the- 

 few specimens in my possession from 8 to 21 in. Leaf 

 lanceolate, tubular at the base where it encloses a large leafy- 

 bract. Flowers 6-18, not spotted, large, pedicellate, race- 

 mose, of a peruliar iridescent greyish -green colour shot with 

 pinkish tints, each subtended by a rather large clasping 

 lanceolate bract. Lateral appendages of column in the form 

 of hair-tufts turned upwards, middle lobe of hood tripar- 

 tite ; the central division irregularl}^ denticulate on the top ;: 

 the lateral divisions also denticulate on their oblique enda 

 passing forwards, upwards, and inwards, at a lower level 

 than the central one, and often interlocking like the fingers- 

 of two hands. Anther pointed, placed behind the stigma. 

 The latter placed well below the middle of the column. 



In only three other recorded sjDecies of thelymitra is the 

 middle lobe of the hood tripartite, viz., in T. ixioides (S.W.), 

 T. canalicvlata (R. Br.), and T. media (R. Br.). The first, 

 of these occurs in this State, the others are Western Aus- 

 tralian forms. With this peculiar division of the hood, how- 

 ever, their resemblance to T . epipactoides practically ends. 

 In each of these three, the central division of the middle 

 lobe is lower than the lateral divisions, and the stigma occu- 

 pies a relatively large portion of the anterior surface of the 

 column, extending well above the middle. These features- 

 are reversed in T. epipactoides. Time of blooming, Septem- 

 ber and early October. 



EXPLANATION OF PLATE XIX. 



Fig. 1. Flower natural size. 



Fig. 2. Side view of column x6, showing divisions of hood and 



hair-tufts. 

 Fig. 3. Column from the front x6. showing divisions of hood,. 



hair-tuft.?, anther, rcstellum, and stigmatic surface. 

 Fig. 4. CoUinin from the back x6. 



