508 
XCVIII. ORCHID ACEiE 
larger than the flowers. Sepals narrowly oblong, lateral ones spread- 
ing, upper one recurved. Petals smaller than the sepals, recurved. 
Lip uppermost, sessile on the base of the column, erect, hoodlike, 
margins turned back ; spurs 2, pointing downwards, usually slender 
and about as long as the ovary, sometimes stout and not half as 
long. Column short, bearing 2 ear-like processes. Anther pendant 
from the top of the column, cells contiguous ; pollinia 2, caudicles 
recurved, glands large, exposed, ivory-white. Stigma broad, con- 
cave. (Pig- 168.) 
Simla, common ; July-September. — Himalaya. — Throughout India. 
18. CYPRIPEDIUM. From Cypris, the Greek for Venus, 
and pedilon, a slipper ; referring to the shape of the lip. — Europe, 
Asia, America. 
Cypripedium cordigerum, Don ; FI. Br. Ind. vi. 170. Gla- 
brous or nearly so. Root fibrous. Flowering-stem 1-2 ft., erect, 
leafy. Leaves spreading, ovate or lanceolate, 5x3 in., acute. 
Flower solitary, terminal; bract large, leaf -like. Sepals green, 
ovate-lanceolate, 1^-2 in., long-pointed, the 2 lateral united 
and placed under the lip, the third erect and above it. Petals 
green or white, spreading, lanceolate. Lip 1-1J in. long, white, 
sessile, folded to form an oblong, inflated, open-mouthed pouch. 
Column short, curved over and nearly closing the posterior por- 
tion of the mouth and bearing a shield-like process at its end. 
Anthers 2, globose, one on each side of the base of the column ; 
pollen-grains glutinous. Ovary straight ; style very , short, stigma 
oblong, its face turned downwards. 
Mushobra, 7500-8000 ft., Mahasu, Fagoo, Narkunda ; May, June. — 
W. Himalaya, 7000-11,000 ft. 
Lady’s Slipper. See Darwin, p. 226. 
XCIX. SCITAMINE^E 
Glabrous herbs ; roots cylindrical, fleshy ; stems erect, un- 
branched. Leaves alternate, sometimes only one, lanceolate, 
entire, sessile or stalked, veins numerous, parallel. Flowers 
showy, irregular, 2-sexual, in terminal spikes ; one or several in 
the axil of each bract. Perianth superior. Calyx tubular, toothed. 
Corolla-tube short or long and slender, slightly dilated towards 
the top and expanding in a 3-lobed limb, the upper lobe usually 
erect and concave ; within the corolla there is a second whorl of 
3 petal-like segments or staminodes, the two lateral usually erect, 
the lower broader, spreading and usually lobed. Fertile stamen 1, 
filament short, erect, grooved, inserted on the mouth of the 
corolla-tube ; anther linear-oblong, curved, versatile, cells 2, 
