240 THE ORCHID REVIEW. [OcroBER, 1916. 
ee DIPLOMERIS HIRSUTA. | s) 
HIS very distinct and remarkable Orchid has just flowered at the Royal 
Botanic Gardens, Glasnevin, and a good specimen has been sent to © 
Kew. It was originally described by Lindley, in 1832, under the name of 
Diplochilus hirsutus (Bot. Reg., sub. t. 1499), from dried specimens 
collected at Gossain Than, Nepal, by Wallich, but was changed to 
Diplomeris hirsuta (Gen. & Sp. Orch., p. 330), when Lindley discovered 
that it belonged to a genus previously described by Don. It was after- 
wards found by Lister, also by Gammie, in Bhotan, and by Pantling in the 
valley of the Teesta, Sikkim, growing on sandstone rocks at r000 to 1400 
feet elevation. The flowers are large and pure white, and are borne singly 
ftom the axil of the solitary, oblong leaf, which hangs from the fissures of 
the sandstone rocks in which the plant grows. The remarkable character 
of the anther and rostellum were originally indicated by Lindley.. Sir 
George King, however, advanced a new theory, and remarked that the 
flowers -were- morphologically. of extreme interest, because in them a 
theory of the structure of Ophrydez, suggested with various degrees of 
distinctness in the different species of Habenaria, is indicated with 
comparative clearness. This he summarised as follows: (a) in Diplomeris 
there are two anthers, one placed on each side of the posterior or imperfect 
stigma ; (0) the staminode represents the second cell of each anther ; and 
(c) the viscid glands of the pollinia are not, in the expanded flower, 
connected with the infertile stigma. | | 
The idea that there are two anthers, each with one perfect and one 
imperfect cell, and the remark that neither caudicles nor canals have any 
apparent attachment to a rostellum, arose from failure to appreciate the 
homology of the parts of this highly complex flower. The fact is the 
anther is single, but the two cells are widely separated by a_ broad 
connective, while the supposed imperfect cells are the staminodes that 
represent the two abortive stamens of the inner staminal whorl. The 
canals are part of the rostellum itself, but the caudicles are pollinary 
structures, and the glands which become attached to their apex are 
secretions of the rostellum. It can hardly have been appreciated that the 
two parts which unite to form the pollinarium of an Orchid originate from 
different whorls of the flower, and ‘are distinct in the earlier phases of 
development. Appearances have proved deceptive, and we may add that a 
division of the anther is seen in the highly specialised genera Mystacidium 
and Dendrophylax among the Vandez. It is interesting to trace the phases 
of development upwards from primitive types. 
