OctolxT, K)I4.] 



'IIII<: ORC'llll) WORLD. 



/ 



CRYPTOPHORANTHUS 

 ATROPURPUREUS. 



IT was Barbosa Rodriguez who established 

 the somewhat cumbrous name Crypto- 

 phoranthus for a small section closely 

 allied to Masdevallia and Pleurothallis. 

 The name dates from the year 1881, although 

 several species now included in it had been 

 previously known under other names. The 

 earliest of these was described by Lindley in 

 1836 under the name Specklinia atropurpurea, 

 from a plant which flowered in the Liverpool 

 Botanic Garden. In 1845 the same species 

 was described by Sir WiUiam Hooker 

 {Botanical Magasine, 4.164) under the name 

 Masdevallia fenestrata — the Windowed 

 Masdevallia, with the remark: — 



" This is one of the very curious produc- 

 tions of Nature of which there are such 

 frequent mstances among Orchidaceous 

 plants. The plant is not only singular m 

 colour, the flowers bemg externally of a deep 

 blackish-blood colour, but still more singular 

 in form, with the sepals united below and at 

 the apex, which is open and window-like, the 

 whole representing the head and beak of a 

 bird, with a perforation where the eyes 

 should be." 



Under the name Masdevallia fenestrata it 

 is occasionally found in collections where 

 curiously formed flowers are appreciated, and 

 although various suggestions have been put 

 forth no one appears to have really discovered 

 the actual manner in which fertilisation is 

 effected. The great Darwin was much inter- 

 ested in the species, as may be proved by the 

 following note in his " Fertilisation of 

 Orchids": — 



" Masdevallia fenestrata is an extraordinary 

 flower, for the three sepals always cohere 

 together and never open. Two minute lateral 

 oval windows, seated high up in the flower 

 and opposite each other, afford the only 

 entrance into the flower ; but the presence of 

 these two minute windows shows how neces- 

 sary it is that insects should have access in 

 this case as with other Orchids. At the 

 bottom of the roomy and dark chamber 

 formed by the closed sepals the minute 



column is placed, in front of which the 

 furrowed labelluiii stands, with a highly 

 flexible hinge, and on each side the two upper 

 petals, a little tube being thus formed. 

 Hence, when a minute insect enters, or a 

 larger insect inserts its proboscis through 

 either window, it has by touch to find the 

 inner tube in order to reach the curious 

 nectary at its base. Within this little tube, 

 formed by the column, labellum and petals, a 

 very broad and hinged rostellum projects at 

 right angles, the under surface of which is 

 viscid ; the minute caudicles of the pollinia, 

 projecting out of the anther case, rest on the 

 base of the upper membraneous surface of 

 the rostellum. The whole structure of the 

 flower seems carefully intended to prevent 

 the withdrawal of the pollinia, as well as their 

 subsequent insertion into the stigmatic 

 chamber. Some new and curious contrivance 

 has here to be made out." 



It remains to be stated that cryptophor- 

 anthus atropurpureus is a native of the West 

 Indies, where it is found on trees, banks and 

 decaying logs. 



NEW ORCHIDS. 



HE Krzv Bulletin, 1914, No. 6, contains 

 botanical descriptions of the following 

 new Orchids : — 



Pleurothallis (Apodas casspitosae) Lankes- 

 teri. Very inconspicuous, the flowers being 

 borne in fascicles below the leaves. Distinct 

 from most others of the section, but nearest 

 to P. myriantha, from which it differs in the 

 shape and colour of the hp. The flowers are 

 deep yellow, with the lip and column dark 

 purple. From Costa Rica. 



Microstylis Andersonii, from Borneo. 

 Flowers small and pallid. 



Sarcopodium suberectum, from Borneo. 

 Resembles S. acuminatum, but smaller. It is 

 stated that the column in the only flower in 

 good condition has two rudimentary anthers 

 attached to processes of the margin of the 

 clinandrium just as in Dendrobium pandaneti. 

 This may be an accidental monstrosity or a 

 normal occurrence as in the last-mentioned 

 plant, 



