a 
THE ORCHID REVIEW. 75 
THE STRUCTURE OF AN ORCHID LIP. 
Ir a more direct proof were required of the compound nature of an Orchid 
lip than any which we at present possess, we might hope some day to see 
this organ replaced by an ordinary petal, with a pair of perfect anthers 
attached near the base, where the side lobes should be. Such an ideal 
example has not yet appeared. We have examples of Cattleya labiata in 
which the side lobes have reverted to perfect anthers, though in each case 
it has been when they wandered from their usual position, and became | 
united with the column, which then became straight, with a perfect anther 
at each apical angle (ante, ii., p. 358; iii., p. 366). 
A flower of Cattleya Trianz from the collection of J. Wilson Potter, 
Esq., of Croydon, is instructive in another way, for it has three small but 
perfect lips, and their attachment shows clearly the cause of the peculiarity. 
They are united to each other and to the base of the column for about two 
lines, afterwards becoming free, and they are nearly equal in size, texture, 
and colour. The side lobes thus appear as free petaloid staminodes, and 
the front lobe is similar in character, not having reverted to a normal petal. 
A flower of Paphiopedilum Spicerianum, from the collection of Mr. 
J. W. Moore, of Rawdon, near Leeds, has a somewhat different peculiarity. 
The lip is divided longitudinally into two halves, and the lateral sepals are 
free, while at their basal angle, and just exterior to them, is an additional 
bract-like body, from the axil of which appears a perfect bud attached to a 
short ovary. The latter character shows that the pedicel of a second flower 
has become completely adnate to the ovary of the lower one, right to its 
apex. The column of the flower is not quite normal, for in front of the 
stigma, which is reduced in size, is situated a petaloid staminode, opposite 
to the normal one, and this evidently represents the median stamen of the 
inner whorl. The two normal stamens complete the series of six, all of 
which are thus separately represented in one form or another. 
The median stamen of the inner whorl is generally the most difficult to 
trace, and its position is not always understood. Robert Brown thought it 
was often represented in the crests of the labellum, while Darwin rather 
located it in the front of the column, if present, but could not trace it in 
the Cypripedium group (among others). In the example of Cattleya above 
mentioned, it evidently followed the same course as the lateral stamens of 
the outer whorl, being normally in the lip, but departing with them into the 
column when that organ had three perfect anthers, thus changing the lip 
into a normal petal. In the flower with three perfect lips it was evidently 
present in the middle one, and had not wandered into the column. The 
Paphiopedilum Spicerianum flower is equally instructive. In that case this 
particular stamen was represented as a petaloid staminode in front of the 
