Pee ORCHID REVIEW. 
VoL. XVII.] OCTOBER, 1909. [No. 202. 
THE EVOLUTION OF THE ORCHIDACE. 
(Continued from page 252.) 
SOBRALIA is placed both by Lindley and Bentham in the subtribe Vanillez, 
which we last considered, but Pfitzer places it, together with Elleanthus and 
a few others, in a distinct group, Sobraliinz, the last-mentioned genus being 
placed by Bentham near to Calanthe in the tribe Epidendrez, where it is 
not very well placed. Sobralia is a genus of tall, reed-like, Tropical 
American Orchids, having stiff plicate leaves, and usually large Cattleya-like 
flowers, of rather membranous texture, which seldom remain fresh beyond 
afew days. They are found from Mexico to Peru, and usually inhabit 
sunny, rocky places, sometimes forming extensive thickets. The lip is 
convolute round the elongated column, and the pollinia are less powdery 
than in the Vanillee. The exact affinity of the group is not yet clear. 
The small subtribe Corymbiez has some resemblance in habit to the 
preceding, while the floral structure resembles the Spirantheze. The species 
are mostly Indo-Malayan, with a few African and American representatives, 
but they are very rarely seen in cultivation. Bentham places the group 
between Vanillee and Spiranthee, though that may not be their true 
position. 
We now come to the great subtribe Spiranthee, the Neottiez proper 
of Lindley, of which Bentham recognises about thirty-five genera, and 
defines as follows : ‘f These are all terrestrial, with creeping or short rhizomes, 
not forming, so far as known, any underground tubers. The flowering 
stems are erect, simple, with membranous leaves, or very rarely leafless, and 
a simple terminal raceme, sometimes condensed into a spike. The rostellum 
is terminal and erect or inclined forward, the anther behind the rostellum 
and parallel to it, and the pollen masses after dehiscence either suspended 
from or attached to the gland of the rostellum, or affixed to the end of a 
stipes descending from that glo d.’’ The flowers are usually somewhat 
pubescent, and the sepals and peals cohere into a hood over the column, 
while the lip is very various in shape, and usually more or less saccate or 
sometimes spurred at the base. The group is found throughout the warmer 
parts of the globe, with a few representatives in temperate regions. The 
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