TROPICAL AMERICAN ORCHIDS 
coriaceous, many-nerved, the mid-nerve sharply carinate 
beneath. Inflorescence usually solitary (often with rem¬ 
nants of one or two old racemes), axillary, when mature 
twice as long as the leaf, flexuous or arcuate. Peduncle fili¬ 
form, 3-5.3 cm. long, with four remote small infundibuli- 
form scarious sheaths, a larger enveloping sheath at base. Ra¬ 
ceme fractiflex, loosely many-flowered (twenty-six or less), 
2.8-7.5 cm. long. Floral bracts scarious, the lower ones 
equaling the pedicellate ovaries, infundibuliform, acuminate. 
Flowers small, glabrous. Sepals deeply connate at the 
base. Lateral sepals suborbicular, narrowed to a subacute 
apex, about 2.8 mm. long, 2.9 mm. wide, 3-nerved, with the 
nerves closed. Dorsal sepal similar, very slightly larger. 
Petals minute, broadly rhombic, about 1 mm. long, 1.75 mm. 
wide, the fleshy-thickened upper half broadly rounded, 
3-nerved. Labellum simple, rhombic-ovate in outline, con¬ 
cave, about 1.1 mm. long, subequally wide, with a fleshy 
transverse thickening across the lower portion, margins 
fleshy, obtuse, 3-nerved. Column minute, dilated above, 
apex 3-lobed, the middle lobe largest and bluntly tri¬ 
angular. 
Stelis fractiflexa is allied to S. distantiJloTa Ames, but has 
a very different lip. The foliage recalls that of S. petiolata 
Ames, while the labellum structure suggests S. coiloglossa 
Schltr. 5. praesecta Schltr. apparently is similar, but has 
broader leaves and a different labellum. 
Costa Rica, Estrella, Cartago, C. H. Lankester 791, 
March 27, 1924. “Flowers purple in strong light, growing 
in shady places may be hyaline purplish, or greenish, a very 
common species on the hills south of Cartago.” (Type in 
Herb. Ames No. 28293.) 
Stelis minutiflora A. & S. sp. nov. Herba parvula. 
Radices numerosae, fibratae. Caules secundarii perbreves, 
monophylli. Folium erectum, ellipticum vel ovale, crassis- 
simum. Inflorescentiae plerumque tres, quam folium multo 
breviores, dense distichiflorae. Flores minutissimi. Sepala 
lateralia ovalia, dorso carinata. Sepalum dorsale simile. 
Petala multo minora, quadrato-flabellata. Labellum ovato- 
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