POLYCYCNIS — POLYSTACHYA. 689 



their flowers. They have short one-leaved pseudobulbous steins, with large 

 plicately-venose leaves, and showy flowers on scapes which arise erect 

 from the base of the stems, and terminate in loose or drooping racemes. 

 The flowers have the sepals and petals narrow and free, and the lip of 

 peculiar form, bi-auriculate at the base, the hypochil clawed with two 

 large wings, the epichil arcuately patent, and the column slender and 

 curved, dilated at the end around the minute stigmatic hollow. There 

 are some two or three South American species. 



Culture. — These plants are best grown in baskets, with peat and moss, 

 and suspended from the roof. The Gattleya house will suit them best. 



P. BARBATA, Rchh.f. — See Cycnoches barbatum. 



P. GRATIOSA, Endr. et Itclib. f. — A very elegant species in the way of 

 P. lepida, having the many -flowered racemes deflexed, not nutant, and a velvety 

 rachis. It is, however, distinguished from P. lepida by the very short claw of 

 the lip and by the anterior part of the same organ ; there are two varieties as 

 regards the size of the flowers, the finer one reaching that of P. barhata, the 

 smaller one that of P. lepida; the sepals are ligulate acute somewhat bearded 

 on the outside, the petals linear lanceolate very shortly clawed, and the lip has 

 two oblong retuse auricles at the base, a rhomboid callus in the middle part, 

 and the front part oblong narrowed to a ligulate apex. It is a very elegant 

 species, one of the discoveries of the late Mr. Endres. — Gosta Rica. 



P. LEPIDA, Linden et Rchh.f. — Avery pretty species, with ovoid clustered 

 pseudobulbs about 2 inches in height, of a dark green colour, and stalked ovate 

 plicately- veined leaves. The flower scapes proceed from the sides of the bulbs, 

 and support a drooping raceme of from fifteen to twenty flowers, of which the 

 lanceolate sepals and petals are pale yellow thickly dotted with purple so as to 

 produce a pale brown or tawny hue, and the lip is pale yellow lightly spotted 

 with chocolate-brown, white towards the base. — •U.S. of Golomhia. 



Via.^nU. HoH., 3rd ser., t. 19. 



POLYSTACHYA, Hooker. 



(Tribe Vandeae, suhtrilc Cymbidieae.) 

 This is a genus of epiphytal plants, with pseudobulbous stems, few 

 distichous leaves, and terminal racemes of rather small dull-coloured 

 flowers, and hence it does not find much favour at the hands of Orchid 

 growers. The species named below is, however, of ornamental character. 

 There are about forty species described, mostly Tropical and South 

 African, some from Tropical Asia (India and Malaya), and a few from 

 Tropical America. 



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