NEW OR NOTEWORTHY ORCHIDS 
Plant stout but with small flowers. Roots stout, fi¬ 
brous, flexuous. Pseudobulb or thickened stem cylindric, 
entirely concealed by loose, imbricating, distichous leaf- 
sheaths, including the latter 11-12 cm. high. Leaves lan¬ 
ceolate-elliptic, acute or acuminate, gradually tapering into 
a channeled petiole, up to 39 cm. long including the petiole, 
2.9-6.2 cm. wide slightly above the middle, membranaceous 
in the dried specimen, many-nerved with 3 nerves con¬ 
spicuous on the under surface. Scape basal, diffuse, much 
shorter than the leaves, about 20-30 cm. long, concealed at 
base by several loose imbricating distichous sheaths. Ra¬ 
ceme loosely 9- to 13-flowered. Floral bracts concave, lan¬ 
ceolate, shorter than the pedicellate ovary. Flowers small 
for the genus. Sepals and petals strongly reflexed, fleshy- 
thickened especially in the middle. Lateral sepals oblong 
or cuneate-oblong, 1.9-2.3 cm. long, 6.6-10 mm. wide, ob¬ 
lique at the rounded or subacute apex. Dorsal sepal similar, 
2-2.36 cm. long, 6-10 mm. wide, apex rounded. Petals 
broadly elliptic-ovate or suborbicular-ovate, 1.6-1.8 cm. 
long, 1.1-1.45 cm. wide near the middle, subacute to broadly 
rounded at the apex, much thickened through the central 
area, slightly oblique. Labellum deeply saccate, simple, 
ovate, 1.55-1.65 cm. long, semipyriform as seen from the 
side, very fleshy with the margins thinner and spreading. 
The entrance to the sac at the base of the lip is surrounded 
by a high keel which forms a reentrant angle in front. The 
interior of the sac and the inner surface of the keels are 
pubescent. Column very short and stout, 6-8.9 mm. long, 
entirely adnate to the base of the lip. Anther oblong-ovoid, 
abruptly acuminate, with a decurved projecting rounded 
lobule on each side near the apex. Pollinia 2, obliquely pyri¬ 
form. Stipe stout, oval. 
The description was drawn from dried specimens supple¬ 
mented by flowers preserved in formalin. 
Catasetum suave is apparently allied to C. thylaciochilum 
Lem., but it differs from that species in color of the flower 
and in the simple lip. The flowers are described by the 
collector as white or ivory white, globular in bud, and fra- 
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