4 ORCHIDS OF THE S I E KIM-HIMALAYA.
flowered in the lower two-thirds, laxly-flowered ia the upper third; floral h-ach equalling
and sheathing the stout sessile ovary, oblong, sub-entire. Flowers warm brown,
minute, -05 in. long, whorled. Sepals oblong, blunt, entire, revolute. Petals narrowly
elliptic, sub-acute, coarsely and unequally serrate, spreading. Lip not much longer
than the sepals, elliptic-lanceolate, blunt, not distinctly lobed but everywhere irregularl
y lobulate-eroso; the base truncate and with a circular nectar-bearing pit just under
t h e column. Pollinia orange-coloured.
At the mouth of the Teesta valley near Sivoke, elevation about 1,000 feet; Pantling
No. 225; only once collected; in flower during April and May. Diatrib.—Perak;
Scortechiai, No. 582.
A singularly beautiful little species with charming warm-brown flowers. It is
evidently a straggler northwards of the Malayan Flora, only a single specimen of it
having as yet been collected in British India, and that at a spot on the outer flank of
the Himalaya, Father Scortechini, who collected for several years in Perak, has left
a n excelleot pencil drawing of the Perak plant, which, as well as hU manuscript
description, agrees with the Sikkim plant. This is closely allied to 0. Bertoldi, King and
Pantling, another species of which Father Scortechini collected specimens in Perak, and
of which he left a drawing now in the Calcutta Herbarium.
PLATE l.—Oberoma Prainiana, E^.NG and Pantliug. A plant of natural aise. Fig. 1 front view
of flower, 2 a flower in profile, showiag the reourved sepals, 3 lip, 4 columu with the reflsxed
lateral sepals in situ, 5 anther, 6 pollinia; ali enlarged.
2. OBEEONIA LOBDLATA, neie species.
Siams very short, not tufted. Leaves oblong, acute or sub-acute, very slightly falcate,
'75 to 3 in. long and •25 to -50 in. broad. Inflorescence more than twice as long as the
leaves, decurved; the peduncle 1-5 in. long, winged, ebracteate; the rachis slender,
sub-terete, laxly-flowered; floral hracis equalling and sheathing the sessile ovary, broadly
oblong, with a blunt triangular erose apex. Flowers scattered, solitary, green, minute,
(•08 in, long ). Sepals ovate, acute, the petals narrower; all entire, reflcxed, and resting
on the ovaiy. Lip twice as long as the sepals, sub-quadrate, narrowed towards the apex;
the base broad, truncate; the edges ii-regularly dentate-lobulate from base to apex;
the apex with a shallow broad sinus. Stigma convex.
I n a tropical valley in the Sikkim Himalaya at an elevation of 1,000 feet; only
a single specimen found; Pantling, No. 199; in flower during October.
The lip of this might be described as trowel-shaped with a truncate bilobed
apex, the lobes being separated by a wide shallow sinus.
PI-ATE 2B.—04ERO«:A lohulata, King and Pantling. A plant; of natural ako. Fig. 1 a flower,
froiH vieic, 2 floral bract, flattened out, 3 pollinia of a young flower intact within the anther-cells;
all enlarged.
3. OBEEOSIÌ PACHYRACHIS, Reichb. fll. in ITerb. Kew ex Hook. fll. Fl.
Br. Ind. V, 681.
Stems very short, tufted. Leaves ensiform, sliglitly falcate, tapering to the base, the
apex acute, 1"5 io 4 in. long and '25 to 'Qo in. broad. Peduncle of inflorescence short,
broad, compressed, adnate to a leaf to near its appx; the flower-bearing rachis very
fleshy, terete, tapering, erect, equalling or slightly longer than its leaf; floral bract ovaterotund,
irregularly but deeply serrate. Flowers minute (only '04 in. long\ pale brown,
sunk singly in rather distant pits in the fleshy rachis, the sepals and lip lying flat on
its surface. Sepals elliptic, obtuse, glandular on the back, not reflexed. Petals smaller
t h a n the sepals, linear-oblong, obtuse, sub-entire. Lip orbicular-elliptic, obtuse, concave,
quite entire or very slightly erose at the apex, and with a deep depression
a t the base just under the column. Capsule short, turgid, often gibbous.
Sikkim at elevations of from 2,000 to 4,000 feet, Pantling No. 10-5; extending
westwards along the tropical zone of the Himalaya to Gharwal and Dehra Dun—Vicary,
Gamble. Khasia Hills—G-. Mann. Flowering in Sikkim. from November to March.
This species is very closely allied to 0. orUcularis, Hook, fll., from which it is
distinguished only by its more distant and rather stnaller flowers, which have narrower
petals and broader an I much more irregularly toothed bracts. Wo have not
found any Oberonia in Sikkim having exactly the characters of 0. orbienlaris, as th'jy
are given by Sir Joseph Hooker in his Flora of British India, or in his Century of
Orchids (Ann. Bot. Gard. Calc., Volume V, 1, t. 1, where he describes and figures
the species). Tiie only locality given for it in Sikkim is Dikkiling, to wliicli we
venture to think it may have been attributed by some misplacement of collectors'
labels. At all events, we have failed to meet with it in Sikkim of recent years.
The specimen of the plant which was the first to receive a name was collected
in 1839 in the Khasia Hills by Mr. Gibson (a collector sent out by the Duke
of Devonshire). It was sent to the Botanic Garden, Calcutta, to Dr. Wallich, who
had a figure made of it, which still exists in the Herbarium, and on which is
written, in Wallich's handwriting, " 0. ph'/llostaclujs^'—a name of which Sir Joseph
Hooker did not know the existence when he published the species as 0. orbicularis iu
t h e Flora of Brit. ludia (vol. V, 677).
The flowers of 0. orbicularis as figured by Sir Joseph Hooker {I.e.) have larger
sepals, larger and diSerently-shaped petals from those of the Sikkim plant here
figured. Moreover the floral bract is ovate acute and regularly finely serrate in that,
whereas in this it is almost rotund and irregularly erose-serrate. Sir Joseph's figure
shows besides a raised fleshy margin to the nectary—a character which is wanting
in this. 0. orUcularis is probably confined to the Khasia Hills.
PLATE 3.—Oberonia paohyraonis, Eeiohb. fll. A plant; of natural size. Fig. 1 front riew o£ a
flower, 2 floral bract, 3 anther, 4 pollinia; all enlarged.
4 . OBEEONIA PACHYPEYLLA, new species.
Stems very stort, not tufted. Leaves very fleshy especially at the base, broadly
ianceolatc, acute, '5 to 1 in. long and from '2 to -5 in. broad at the base.
Peduncle of the inflorescence short, stout, not adnate to a leaf, with one to three
lanceolate hyaline bracts. Spike 1-25 in. long, deflexod, thick, fleshy, terete, tapering
towards the apex and also slightly towards the base. Flowers -04 in. long, not sunk
in the rachis, covered while in bud by the broad ovate-rotund erose fleshy-based
bracts. Sepals spreading, broadly-ovate, blunt, entire. Peiah spreading, ovate-lanceolate,
blunt, entire. Lip slightly shorter than the sepals and petals, obovate-rotund, with a
deep pit at its base just unJer the column-, the margin 3-lobed; the side lobos
long, very narrow, erose-d«ntate; the terminal lobe rounded, quite entire.