168 A FLORA OP MANILA 



and showy, white or variously colored. Sepals subequal, the lateral ones 

 obliqtiely adnata to the foot of the column, and forming with it a sac. Lip 

 contracted at the base, rarely clawed, adnate to the foot of the column, the 

 side-lobes embracing' the column, or spreading, or none, the terminal lobe 

 flat to saccate, v Column short, the foot long or short. Anther 2-celled; 

 poUinia 4, in pairs in each cell. (Greek "tree" and "life," from the 

 epiphytic habit of the species.) 



Species nearly 600, tropical Asia through Malaya to Australia; and 

 Polynesia, about 50 in the Philippines. 



1. D. crumenatum Sw. '^hite Dove Orchid. 



Stems fascicled, glabrous, elongated, up to 1 m in leng^th, slender, the 

 basal bulbs 8 to 12 cm long, about 2 cm thick. Leaves scattered, distichous, 

 oblong, obtuse, 5 tb 8 cm long and 1.5 to 2.5 cm wide. Flowers fugacious, 

 appearing On' the upper parts of the stems at the nodes, white, the center 

 pale-yellow, very fragrant, solitary or somewhat fascicled,. 2.6 to 3 cm long, 

 lasting a day or less. 



Occasional on trees, Santa Mesa to San Juan del Monte, also commonly 

 cultivated, fl. at intervals, all the plants in the same region flowering" the 

 same day; widely distributed in the Philippines. Indo-China to Malaya. 



6. OBEROMA Lindley 



Tufted, usually small, epiphytic plants with distichous, equitant, flattened 

 leaves. Flowers very numerous, minute, in dense, often cylindrici solitary 

 spikes or racemes terminating the leafy stems. Sepals broadly ovate or 

 oblong, subequal, the petals smaller. Lip sessile, concave, entire or 2- to 

 4-lobed. Column very short; anther terminal, incumbent; pollinia 4, waxy, 

 cohering. (After Oberon, king of the fairies.) 



Species about 90, tropical Asia to the Mascarene Islands through Malaya 

 to Australia and Polynesia, about 13 in the Philippines. 



1. O. merrilill Ames. 



A small, tufted, glabrous plant 9 cm high or' less, with many fibrous 

 roots, stemless, or with very short stems. Leaves fleshy, flattened, ensif orm, 

 acute, 2.7 to 7 cm long, about 5 mm wide, shorter than the inflorescence. 

 Peduncle slender, 7 to 12 cm long, the spike 4 to 9 cm long, about 4 mm in- 

 diameter, vrith numerous small bracts below the flower-bearing part. 

 Flowers minute, reddish, verticillate or subverticillate, the verticels 2 to 3 

 mm apart, short-pedicelled. Sepals 1 mm long or legs. Petals suborbicular, 

 about 0.75 mm in diameter, the lip 3-lobed, as long as the petals, the lateral 

 lobes minute, smaller than the middle one. 



On santol trees, Masambong and along the Novaliches Road, fl. Nov.; of 

 very local occurrence in Luzon. Endemic. 



Subclass 2. DICOTYLEDONEAE: Plants producing seeds with two coty- 

 ledons. 



33. CASUARINACEAE (CasuARINA.OR AGOHO FAMILY) 



Leafless trees, the branchlets cylindric, grooved, jointed, the intemodes 

 terminating in short sheaths of connate suuulate scales (reduced leaves). 

 Flowers unisexual. Staminate flowers in terminal spikes formed of short, 

 superposed, toothed cups; sepals 1 or 2, concave, circumsciss at the base; 

 stamen 1, inflexed in bud. Pistillate flowers in ovoid or globose heads, 

 bracteate and 2-bracteolate ; ovary minute, 1-celled; style 2-fid; the arms 

 stigmatose to the base; ovules 2, collateral. Fruit an ovoid or oblong cone 



