•r
ORCHIDS OF THE SIKOU-HIMALATA.
attached by their backs in pairs to a long cauclicle broad above but tapering to a
small glaud. Species tlu-cc, all Indian.
Lindlevs original doscriptiou of tHs gemis, as regru'ds tlie strueturo of the lip, is not in harmony
with the spochnens on ^hich he founded it. This is no doubt on account of his having worked oa
Herbanum material. We have therefore modified it «nd, as now defined, the genus differ from Camaroli,
in barmg a tei-minal, not a dorsal, anther ; a^d also in having a spun-ed, distinotly 8-lobed lip, inslead
of a lip consisting almost entii-cly of a sao with very small obseni'e side and apical lobes and r > spur.
Glabrous, flowers -3 in. across .
Inflorescence pubescent, flowers '"ô
•S. hiettspidaiu».
S. /lil/KS.
1. STEBEOCIIILUS DICÜSRIDATUS, King and Pautliug.
Síem 3 . loug, with very inimcrous roots at the base. Zeacea coriaccous,
narrowly oblong, deeply aud obliquely bilobidate at the apex, the loMcs often erose;
length 3'5 to 6 in., breadtli "8 to 1 in. Injlorcscmca fi-oin the stem below the leaves
slender, gkbrous, usually longer tlian the leaves; the peduncle a few minute
distant sheaths. Flower, in or shortly-branched panicles, numerous but not
crowded, -3 in. across; floral bmcts minute. Sepals sub-equal, spreading, the dorsal
ooorate-elHptic, the lateral pair broadly elliptic. Petah oblanceolate, blunt, oblique
smaller than the sepals. Lip as long as the sepals, adnate to the column; the basé
witii a spiu- neai'ly as long as and parallel to the ovary, cylindric towards the blunt
non-dilated apex ; the mouth infimdibulate, its edges mth broad roimded crose side
lobes; the apical lobe broad, ovate, concave, acute; the interior of the spur with a
smooth callus below the column and a much larger one on the anterior wall below
the mouth, the two calli touching and occluding the entrance to the spur. CoJwm
short, thick; the rostellum long, bent to one side and sUghtly hooked at the apex
Anihcr depressed and with a long beak in front; polUnia four, orbicular, compressed
attached by pairs; the candide thickened in the middle, tapered at the apex and also
at the base to the small oval gland. CapBule cylindzic, ridged, -5 in long. CleiBostoma
hcuspidainvi, Hook. fil. Fl. Bv. Ind., VI. 75.
Sikkim, at elevations of about 2,000 feet ; in flower dming
Pantling No. 178. KJiasia Hills; Mann. Tenasseiim; Parish.
long.
J u l y and August ;
The flowers are yellomsh, marked with pink along the midribs of the soimls
and pstals and on the lobes of the lip. The rostellum is long and t^visted, and the
poUinia are attached to the sides of the apex of the caudicle as in StereocUlus hirlus
In Clemstoma, to which Sir Joseph Hooker (deceived no doubt by the drawin-s of the
native artists of the Calcutta garden) referred this plant, the rostellum is shorter
and qmte straight ; moreover the pollen-masses are attached behind the apex or at the
extremity of the caudicle. We have therefoi-e ventm-ed to transfer this species to
Stei-eocMus. The Sikldm plant differs, however, from the Khasia plant fio-ui-ed by
Sir Joseph Hooker (Ann. Bot. Gard. Cale., V, t. 87, %. B. 2) in having the calli
mside the spur smooth, not pubescent, and it may be different from the Khasia one.
Pr.ATE 3 1 4 — b i c u s p k l a h a . Kmg and Pantling. A plant, of natural size. Fig. 1 a flower
2 ovary, column, anther and lip, sid3 vi:w, 3 longitudinal section of the preceding, i front riew
of tlie apes of the column, showing the anther in situ, the twisted rostellum with the gland of the
caudicle at oae side, 5 the callus on the posterior waU of the spur below tie column, 6 transverse
section of thespui', 7 empty anther seen from below, S poUinia, side and back views; alUnhrgd.
2. STEREOCHILUS UIRTUS, Lindl, in Joum. Linn. Soc. Ill, 58.
Stem eroct, stout, clothed witi; the sheaths of the leaves, Leaves narrowly oblong,
rigid, fleshy, almost terete, narrowed to'\\'ards the minutely bifid apex, widest at
the base and jointed to the short rugnlose sheaths; length 3 to 5 in,, breadth '5 in.
Racemes axillary, decurved, longer than the leaves; the pedimcle and rachis covered with
short coarse glandular hairs; raceme sparsely flowered; floral hraci minute, ovate, acute,
hairy like the rachis and ovary. Flowers '75 in. across, glabrous. Sepals spreading
oblong-lanceolate, blunt. Petals oblong, sub-spaihulate, the apices blunt and crenateeerrate.
Lip adnate to the base of the column, consisting of a Avide compressed
conical sac adpressed to the ovary, with triangular converging side lobes and with
two large calli (one of them bilobed) at the mouth of its oblong cavity and just bslow
the column; the limb oblong-ovate, blunt, concave. Column dilated at the base, with
no foot; rostellum very large, cuiving downward to near the middle of the column.
Anther depressed, with a very long beak; poUinia foiu-, in two paii-s, broadly ovoid,
attached by theii' bases to a long thin flat caudicle ending in a small gland. Harcantlms
Jurtus, Benth. in Gen. Plant. Ill, 676; Hook. fil. Fl, Br. Ind. YI, 35.
Sikkim, at Tendong, elevation 6,000 feet; in flower in June; Pantling No. 157.
Khasia Hills, elevation 5,000 feet; Hooker and Thomson. Tenasserim ; Parish.
The flowers of this ai'e glabrous ; the sepals and petals are pink, the lip white
and pink, the column white and the anther purple. After the removal of the pollenmasses
from the anther, the caudicle twists so that the pollinia acquire an oblique
direction. This arrangement is no doubt to facilitate contact with the stigma when
an insect to wliich the viscid disc has adliered visits another flower. Without such
twisting, the pollinia would be 2>i"evented from reaching its stigma by the long stout
rostellum which hangs do%vn in front of that organ.
PLATE 815.—Sii-^'eochilua hvius, Lindl. A plaut. Fig, 8 transverse section of a loaf, of natural
«•'«, Fig. 1 a £o'i\-er, 2 bract, stalked ovary, colunm and lip, 3 vertical section of ovary, column and
lip, 4 anther fi-om below, S pollinia in situ, the cap of the anther having been removed, G pollinia
after removal, 7 section of spur between the calli and the tip; all cnlavg-d. NOTE,—Fig. 7 is erroneous
in sbotciiig the partition in the spur ns continuous; it really consists of tm approximatad flat calli.
54. Camarotis, Lindl.
Epiphytal. Stem elongate, bearing distant coriaceous keeled leaves obliquely bifid at
the apex. Racemes extra-axillaiy, many-ñowered, lax. Sepals and petals spreading or
roflexed, sub-equal. Lip sessile on the column, consisting of a thick-walled sac, the cavity
narrowed by two calli and divided by a septum completely or partially into two chambers
; side lobes small, obscine; the apical lobe small, thick, concave and entire or almost
obsolete. Column twisted, without a foot; rostellum very long, nan-ow, subulate, cmwcd,
twisted to one side. Antlier dorsal, depi-esscd; pollinia four, in pairs, attached by their
bases to a very long narrow caudicle tapering to a minute gland. Species four; Indian
and one from the Philippines.
The other three species belonging to this genus are the Indian C. purpurea, Lindl, {Mridcs
rosh-aium, Eoxb.) ; G. puUida, Lmdl. {JEridas palHdvm, Eosb.) ; and C. PhUippeitm, Lmdl.
The first appcarnnce of the genus Camarotis was in Wallich's Catalogue, in which he issued, under
the number 7329 and the name C. purpurea, Lindl,, the plant whieh Roxburgh had previously named