ddd be OKC HID. REVIEW 
VoL. XI.] OCTOBER, 1903. [No. 130. 
THE GENUS PLEIONE. 
THE Pleiones, or ‘‘ Indian Crocuses”’ as they are often familiarly termed, 
form a charming little group of autumn and _ winter-flowering plants, 
which are now beginning to produce their annual display, and a few 
notes on the different species may prove acceptable. 
The genus was established by Don, in 1825 (Prodr. Fl. Nepal., p. 36), 
for the two now well-known species, P. precox and P. humilis, which had 
previously been figured and described by Sir James Smith as species of 
Epidendrum (Smith Exot. Bot., ii, tt. 97, 98). Soon afterwards Lindley 
reduced them to Coelogyne (Gen. aud Sp. Orch., p. 43), where they have for 
the most part remained down to the present time. Lindley, however, 
wished to keep them apart, and in 1852 he again separated them, remark- 
ing :—‘‘ The habit of these plants is so peculiar that it seems desirable to 
separate them from Ccelogyne, ifany character can be found, and we think the 
membranous bracts, and strongly saccate lips with fringed veins, of Pleione 
may be taken to offer a sufficient distinction (Paxt. Fl. Gard., ii, pp. 65, 66).” 
Finally, however, he left them as a distinct section of Ccelogyne (Fol. Orch. 
Calog., p. 14), though he added:—“ There is something so peculiar in the 
plants called Pleione by Don that it would be desirable to find some means 
of separating them from Ccelogyne. At all events, Pleiones constitute a 
group which can never be intermingled with the species of Coelogyne 
proper.” 
Certainly the two groups are very similar in floral structure, but there 
are several differences, notably, that the lip is quite different in shape and 
details; added to which there is the very differently shaped annual 
pseudobulbs, the thin deciduous leaves, and the peculiar inflorescence. 
In fact, the whole organisation is different, and the plants require quite 
different treatment. On the other hand, we find Pholidota, organised in 
precisely the same way as Ccelogyne, and with very slight floral 
differences, and Otochilus, slightly more distinct in floral structure, 
though not more so than Pleione, and yet both are recognised as distinct. 
In fact, Pleione is equally deserving of generic recognition, and the recent 
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