282 



THE ORCHID WORLD. 



[ScptembtT, 1914. 



Calanthe veralrifolia. 



and probably other islands of the Pacific 

 Ocean by C. gracillima. 



The essential characters of Calanthe consist 

 chiefly in the labellum being almost always 

 spurred, three-lobed, with the middle lobe 

 notched, and its claw being adnate to the 

 column, forming either a cylindric tube or a 

 broadly turbinate cavity beyond which the 

 column IS very rarely produced. The pollinia 

 are eight, in groups of four each ; each group 

 is furnished with a short caudicle or bipartite 

 gland. 



Dr. Lindley distributed the Calanthes into 

 two sections, according as the spur of the 

 labellum is elongated, or short or quite 

 obsolete, but the distinction is vague and not 

 confirmed by more recent observation. A 



more natural sectional division may be made 

 by separating the epiphytal or sub-epiphytal 

 species, of which C. vestita is a well-known 

 type, from the terrestrial species of which C. 

 veratrifolia is one of the best known 

 representatives. The most obvious charac- 

 teristics of each section may be thus stated : 



Vestitae. Pseudobulbs more or less 

 elongated, angulate, covered with a grey- 

 green reticulated, membraneous sheath. 

 Leaves large, plicate, deciduous. Inflorescence 

 hairy, loosely racemose ; bracts usually large, 

 inflated and as long as the ovaries. 



Veratrifolia. Pseudobulbs none, or a very 

 small, fleshy or tuberous rhizome, emitting 

 long cord-like branched roots. Leaves broad 

 and spreading, persisting longer than one year. 



