STELIS. 
Swartz, Fl. ind. occ. p. 1549. 
a basi connata, campanulata, equalia v. inequalia. Petala 
minima, oaigies incrassata, columnam et tabelan involventia. Labellum 
eceioeins aut orme, subsequale, Columna nana, truncata, rostello 
aris ; 
cespitose aut procurrentes, rhizomate itenact, Folia apice sepius 
tridentata. Caules simplices, monophyly aginat. Flores racemosi, 
sepiuis minuti, Bractes feré semper oc 
Stelis is distinguished from Plot by a short truncate 3-lobed 
column, the front angles of whose antherbed are uniformly mucilaginous 
0 si porary 
Eustelides and must remain so until the species can be studied in their wild 
te. Of the 132 now described I have only seen 6 alive, and they were 
ed. 
insufficiently o 
Such characters as are now employed, teed to be constant, and it is 
promt pion! the limits of species. newed study of the genus 
d over many m: a een 4 ssectio1 flowers have 
Geaet that the form of the calyx, its sonnet g structure of the lip, 
rare with even to le accuracy, Owing to their extreme mi: 
most precies: distinctions, If they have been here, made 
subordinate to the it has been —— to the i 
g sa ing — of the and from the rae § 
ficient account that has be on given of thine ich I have not been able to 
examine 
consists the following are the only instances of much deviation 
common . Stelis yea a. has a column with scarcely any pierontic 
arms; §. fi 28, has no arms at all, but great lateral tumours on anther- 
ob polis seve bes Gantt membrane SPD I 
8 masses have foun ; en ng column 
passe ti arms; in lik aon tall 
terete column, but the stigmatic arms are 
e given in the following iste ecm 
is when grown. 
ient guides to the identification of 
various times, and that tat suddenly they close directly as soon as removed or 
touched,” Bot. Cad. t. 442. 
Nov. 1, 1858. 
It may also be useful to state that all oe minuter examination hate 
It 
of s that the flowers are irritable. = 
Speaking of S. ophioglossoides he remarks De ee er at enteeea = 
