NEW OR NOTEWORTHY ORCHIDS 
purpurei. Sepala aequalia, ovata, trinervia. Petala cuneata, 
prope apicem transverse incrassata, apice retuso. Labellum 
quadratum, deinde in apicem acutum angustatum. Discus 
supra medium transverse incrassatus, utrinque obscure 
lobulatus. Columna generis. 
A tall slender plant which closely resembles Stelis Ton- 
duziana Schltr. in habit, but is distinguishable from it in 
having 3- (not 5-) nerved sepals and differently shaped petals. 
Roots fibrous, whitish, glabrous. Secondary stems crowded, 
erect, 7-9 cm. long, very slender, wholly concealed by 
closely oppressed nervose sheaths, monophyllous, scarcely 
2 mm. in diameter. Sheaths elongated, brownish in dried 
specimens, becoming gradually dilated upward. Leaf 8-11 
cm. long (including the petiole), about 1 cm. wide, narrowly 
elliptic-lanceolate, tridenticulate at the apex, much exceeded 
by the raceme; petiole 2.5-3 cm. long, slender, deeply sul- 
cate above. Peduncle 17-20 cm. long, arising near the base 
of the petiole of the leaf, floriferous almost to the base, 
sheathed by a lanceolate nervose bract which is about 1 cm. 
long. Raceme loosely many-flowered, erect, slender. Floral 
bracts about 2.5 mm. distant between the points of inser¬ 
tion, hyalescent, tinged with purple, infundibuliform or 
tubular, equaling the flower-stalk. Flowers forty or more, 
dark purple. Sepals about equal, 3.5 mm. long, 2 mm. wide 
below the middle, ovate, obtuse or subacute, fleshy, glabrous 
externally, densely glandulose internally, 3-nerved with the 
middle nerve prominent on the outer surface. Petals 1 mm. 
long, 1 mm. wide near the tip, cuneate from a broad base, 
thickened transversely below the more or less membrana¬ 
ceous shallowly retuse apex, the thickening forming a promi¬ 
nent transverse ridge on the outer surface. Labellum 1 mm. 
long, about .75 mm. wide, very fleshy, lower two thirds quad¬ 
rate, the upper third gradually tapering to an acute or sub¬ 
acute tip which is concave on the upper surface; above the 
middle the disc is heavily transverse-thickened with an ob¬ 
scure erect marginal lobule on each side of the thickening. 
Column typical of the genus. 
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