TROPICAL AMERICAN ORCHIDS 
infundibuliform, acuminate. Flowers minute. Sepals very 
broadly ovate to rhombic-ovate, connate at their base, acute, 
3-nerved, finely pubescent within near the anterior margins. 
Lateral sepals about 2.6 mm. long. Dorsal sepal 2.8-3 mm. 
long. Petals minute, rhombic-reniform, with the upper part 
fleshy-thickened, 3-nerved, about .8 mm. long. Labellum 
smaller (much narrower), ovate-quadrate, with the entire 
centre of the disc occupied by a large fleshy callus, minutely 
apiculate, with the apicule often inflexed, about .7 mm. long 
and a little narrower. Column minute, dilated above. 
Vegetatively Stelis elliptica resembles a large S. Cooperi 
Schltr., while the labellum recalls that of S. Johnsonii 
Ames. S. leptophylla Schltr., which is apparently similar 
vegetatively, has smooth flowers and a different lip. 
Costa Rica, Santa Clara de Cartago, C. H. Lankes- 
ter 565, December 23, 1923. “A very common sp. of the 
locality.” Flowers greenish. (Type in Herb. Ames No. 
28125.) 
Stelis fractiflexa A. & S. sp. nov. Herba parvula, 
rhizomate brevi. Radices fibratae, numerosae, filiformes. 
Caules secundarii vaginis tubulatis omnino vestiti, mono- 
phylli. Folium oblongum vel elliptico-oblongum, promi- 
nenter petiolatum. Racemi plerumque singuli, folio duplo 
superantes, fractiflexi. Sepala orbiculari-ovata. Petala per- 
late rhombica, dimidio superiore incrassata. Labellum 
ovatum, prope basim transverse incrassatum, antice exca- 
vatum. Columna generis. 
Plant small, 12.5-14.5 cm. tall. Roots numerous, 
fibrous, filiform, glabrous. Rhizome short, creeping, con¬ 
cealed by several closely imbricating scarious fibrous 
sheaths, producing numerous slender roots. Secondary 
stems slender, approximate, 1-3.5 cm. long (usually 2.8 cm. 
or less), monophyllous, enveloped by two or three long tubu¬ 
lar scarious nervose sheaths. Leaf erect-spreading, long- 
petioled; petiole 6-16 mm. long, slender, channelled, merg¬ 
ing into the leaf-blade; lamina oblong or elliptic-oblong, 
1.7-4.5 cm. long, 4-9.5 mm. wide, acute or obtuse, apex 
minutely tridenticulate, cuneately narrowed at the base. 
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