113 
TANTHA. pittiprrrona: 
Pale-flowered Iantha. 
GYNANDRIA MONANDRIA,—Nar. Orv. ORCHIDE. 
‘Gen. Cuar.—Petala minuta, conniventia, subsqualia, libera, inferne uha 
cum labello magno dilatato inarticulato, breviter obtuse calcarato. An- 
thera operculiformis, libera. Masse pollinis duo, dorso lobulato pedicello 
glanduloso affixe. 
Tantha pallidiflora. 
Stem none. Leaves binate, linear-lanceolate, four or five inches long, gla- 
brous and nerveless. Scape arising from between these leaves, in the 
present individual about half a foot high, and simple; but evidently, as 
may be seen from the vestiges of the old scapes which had blossomed in 
their native country, sometimes attaining a much greater height, and 
branched ; cylindrical, glabrous, jointed, with scales at the joints, having 
small bracteas at the base of each flower. 
Flowers lax and distantly placed. Petals very small, connivent and stand- 
ing forward, so as to conceal the column of fructification, the three outer- 
most smallest and equal in size, the two innermost larger and broader, 
all of them white with purple stripes; united together with the label- 
lum at the base, so as to form a short, obtusely 2-lobed spur. Lip very: 
large, pendent, nearly plane, 2-lobed, at the base furnished with two 
yellow tubercles, the rest of it white, with faint purplish streaks, its mar- 
gin waved. Germen slender, pedicelliform, twisted. Column very short. 
Stigma concave, green. <Anther hemispherical, yellowish, with two 
purplish spots, operculiform, free. Pollen-masses two, yellow, coriaceous, 
each with a small lobe behind, and fixed to a linear, oblong, white foot- 
stalk, which has at its base an oblong gland ; this gland projects beyond 
the operculum, where that is fixed upon the column. 
4 
a ae 
‘The subject of the accompanying plate seems to be too in- 
teresting for me to neglect this opportunity of figuring it, al- 
though, as far as can be conjectured from some old scapes which 
remain on the plant, another season might have afforded much 
finer flowering stems. ‘The individual from which the drawing 
VOL. Ii. 
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