ill
¿ 0 2 ORCHIDS OF THE SJKKIM-HIMALAYA.
The flowers of this spccies al-e palo green throughout. It is distinguished by its
entire lip from all the Indian species of Luisia. Plants of it were sent in 1893 to
the Botanic Garden, Calcutta, by the late Jlr. C. A. B. Anderson. These flowered
dui'ing the year 1890. Nobody else has as yet collected it.
r i . vTE 269,—L u i s i a indioisa, King and I'lmtliug. A plaufc ; nf nainrnl sise. F i g , 1 n flowor,
2 floral bract, ovaiy, column ajid lip, 3 tho petals, 4 lip, 5 column witli aiitlior and stigma; ull
enlarged.
2 . LUISIA XEiciioEnizA, Bhime Mus. Bot. Lugd. Bat. I, G3.
¡Stem 4 to 10 in. long, very stoat, not brancliiug. Leaves fleshy, only slightly
tapered to the apex, -2 in. thick and 4 to 7 in. long, the internodes -4 in. long.
Spikes i- or 5-flowered, stout. Flowers 4 in. long; floral hract broad, with an acuminate
point, persistent. Sepals unequal; tlie lateral pair obliquely ovate, acute, keeled, longer
than the blunt oblong dorsal one. Fctak oblong, bhint, longer and narrower tlian the
lateral sepals, all spreading. Lip larger than the sepals, the basal half deeply concaveand
with crect rounded edges, the apical half broadly cordate, tapering to the subtnincate
minutely emarginate apes, the upper surface witii short blunt vertical ridges. Cohmn
half as long as the lip, stout; tho anther sub-quadrate, compressed, rostellum broad.
PolUnia ovoid, attached by a broad tapering caudicle to the cniieate-quadrate gland.
Lindl. Fol. Orch, 2; licichb. fil. Xen. Orch., t. 77, figs. 8 to ISj Hook. fil. Fl. Br.
Ind. VI, 23. Vanda? triehorhiza, Hook. Exot. Fl,, Vol. I, t. 73.
Sikkini, at low elevations; in flower diuing March and April; Pantliag, No. 20;').
Ghanval; Falconer.
This has much stouter stems and thicker and blunter leaves than either L. Iraehnstachys
or L. teretifolia. The flowers also are produced on short tliick tubercles, and they
£vre largei- than in these two species. In coloui- they approach most to those of tlie
former, the sepals being pale green with faint purple lines, and the lip dark dull piu-ple,
the basal portion or hypochile being faintly outlined by pale green lines, and the ridges
of the apical half (epichyle) being tinged with the same shade of green.
PLATE. 270.—L w s i n irichorlnza, Bhirae. A plant; of wdai-'il size. Pig. 1 the sepals and polds,
separated; of natural «I'si, 2 a flower, 3 bract, ovary, column wifcli author in situ, and lip in profile,
4 column (\vitli the bases o£ the perianth) showing the anther in situ and tho stigma, 5 lower
surface of anther, 6 pollinia; all enlarged.
3 . LUISIA TERETIOI-IA, Gaud. Bot. Freyc. Voy., 426, t. 37.
Stem 6 to 12 in. long, stout, sometimes branching. Leaves terete, spreading, 8 o
to 6 in. long, and from -lo to -2 in. thicli, the internodes -G in. long. Spilces very
short, -2 to -3 in. long, 2- or 3-flowered. Flowers -25 in, long; floral Iract broad, pointed.
Sepals and petals sub-equal, the petals sliglitly longer, narrowly oblong, blunt, spreading,
the lateral pair ending in a tooth. Lip longer than the sepals and much broader, with
a square sub-saccate base, and a deflexed rhomboid apical lobe with five or six vertical
lines on its upper surface and a sUbtruncate apex. Column le'ss than half as long as the
lip, stout, .iijii/isr depressed, PolUnia 2, ovoid, attached by a stout caudicle to a broadly
obloug gland. Blume Rmnphia, IV, t . 194,'fig. 3, t. 197D; Mus. Bot. Lugd. Bat. I,
6 3 ; Lindl. Fol. Orch., 2 {excluding from all the iynonym Ep. t-istS)-, Hook. fil. F l Br.
Ind. VI, 22. L. Irachystachys, var. fljxoeola, Par. and Reichb. cfll. in Trans. Linn. Soc.
XXX, 144, L. lurmanica, Lindl Fol. Orch. 3. L. platyylossa, Ecichb. fil in Walp.
Ann. VI, 622. L. zoylanica, Lindl Fol. Orch., 3. Cy'mbidium triste, Roxb, FI. Ind. Ill,
461; Bot. Mag., t. 3648; Wight Ic. 911 {te.d only)-, GriS. Notul. HI, 340 {tM Mergui
plant). C. tcnu'/oliuvi, Wight Ic. 1689 (e.>;cl. ic.^t).
Sikkim, in the bottoms of valleys, ascending to 3,000 feet; in flower dm-ing May;
Pantling, No. 115, Khasia Hills, Bengal, Pegu and Tenasserim, Andamaus, the Western
Ghats and Ceylon.
The sepals and petals are of a unifonn green and the lip and column of a deep
puiple, tho anther is pale yellow. The plant, as found in the Bengal Sunderbans, has
flowers coloured exactly as above described, but the stem and leaves arc more slender
and the ovaries are longer. Blume's two figures of this show larger flowers than we
ever met with in British Indian specimens.
PLATE 271.—Luisia tereUfolia, Gaud. A plant; of natural sisù. Fig. 1 a flower, 2 floral bract,
stidked ovarj", columu, nnther and lip, side view, 3 column and antlier, 4 empty anther, lower surface,
5 apex of column with pollinia in siiu, the cap of the anther having been removed, 6 poUhiia, after
remoTal ; all enlarged.
4. LUISIA INCONSPICUA, Hook. fil. MSS. in Herb. Hort. Cale.
Stem 4 to 6 in. long, slender, not branching. Leaves spreading, 1-4 to 2-5 in. long,
•I in. in diam. or less, the internodes -5 in. long. Spikes -15 to '2 in. long, slender, 1- to
3-iiowered. Flowers -Id in. long; floral hract membranous, triangular, acuminate. Sepals
ovate-lanceolate, sub-acute, spreading. Petals oblong, tapering slightly to the blunt apex.
Lip as long as the sepals, the basal part (hypochile) hemispherically saccate ; tho anterior
part (epichyle) docui-ved, flat, sub-reniform, notched at the apex, its upper surface minutely
hispid and with 5 or 0 vertical lines. Cohmn half as long as the lip, stout. Anther
depressed, rostellum large. Pollinia broadly ovoid, attached by a slender caudicle to
an oblong-qnadrate gland. Saccoluhiuni ? incompicuum, Hook, fil Fl Br. Ind. VI, 56.
Cymlidium inconspieuiim, Wal l . MSS.
Sikkim, at low elevations; in flower during June and July; Pantlijig, No. 159.
Assam (fig. in Herb. Bot. Gard. Calcutta); Jenkins, Simons.
This is a smaller and more slender plant than L. teretifolia, and it has smaller
flowers, the prevaiUng colour in which is pale yellowish gi-een, the columu being pui'plo
and the basal half of the Hp having spots of that colour. A colom-ed drawing of this
was prepared in Dr. Wallich's timo from a specimen sent from Assam by the late
Colonel Jenkins. Dr. Wallich named it Cymbidiuni inconspicuim, and it was published by
Sir Joseph Hooker in the Flora of British India as a doubtful species of Saccolahium
under the name S.? incompicuum. After seeing dried specimens of the plant fi-oni
Sikkira, Sir Joseph saw that the plant is a Luisia, and he wrote on the Calcutta
drawing the name here published.
PLATE 272,—itd'sid incompicua, Hook, 'fil A plant; of natwal tite. F i g . 1 a flower, 2 ovary,
column and lip, in profile, 3 petals, 4 coluum with anther in situ, 5 empty anther, seen from below,
C apes of columu with the pollinia in situj the cap of the anther having been removed, 7 pollinia ;
ail eniargod.
ANN, EOV. BOT. GAKD., CALCUTTA, VOL, Yill.