1 2 OUCHIDS OP TEE SIKKIH-HIMALATA.
PiATE 13B.- Oheronia cankscens, Liiidl. Two plants, of natural sise. Fig. 1
2 anther, 3 poUinia; all enlarged.
flower, front cieic,
OBEEONIA.
Tlate 15.-Oberonia rufilahm, Lindl. Two plants, of naiural size. Fig. 1 ti flowor seen from
tbe front, 2 clinandrinm and part of cohmn, 3 floral bract from the lower part o£ a raceme,
4 floral bract from the npper P"' ^ raceme, 5 cap of anther, 6 pollinia; all enlarged.
16. OBERONIA F^VLCATA, King and Pautling in Joiim. As. Soc., Bengal,
LXIV, pt. 2, p. 329.
Caulescent, tufted. Stems 5 in. long, flexuose. Zeavcs falcate, onsiform, acute, 1 to
2-ri in. long and -2 to -25 in. bvoad. Ivflorescence erect, nearly as long as the
stem and much longer than the leaves ; the pedunch very short, terete, less than
half as long as the uppermost leaf, bracteate; raceme many-flowered; floral hrad
equalling and sheathing the stalked ovary, ovate, sub-acute, erose. Fbiuers yellowishjii
een, minute ('05 in. long), crowded, sub-vertxcellate. Sepals ovate, entire, reflesed or
vspreading. Pcf-ils linear-oblong, blunt, entire. Lip twicc as long as the sepals, broadly
oblong in general outline, flat except for a slight depression near its base and just
under the column ; side lobss small, triangular, pointing outwards ; the torminal lobe
^vith two deep lanceolate slightly diverging terminal lobales separated by a wide
sinus with a narrow but rounded edentate apes. Cohimn with two fleshy wings.
Anther-cap membranous. PolUnia ovate, compressed, and of a dark orange colour.
Choongthang in tbe Sikkim-Himalaya, at an elevation of 6,000 feet; Pantling
No. 218 ; in flowor during August.
This resembles 0. hngihlris, King and Pantling iu having a winged column. But
it is a larger plaat than that, and its lip is differently lobed ; the petals also are
broader and their apices are not truncate as in that species. This also resembles 0.
MannU, Hook. fil. (Ic. Plantar., t. 2003), but has narrower petals which are quite entire.
PI.ATE lA..—Oheronia falcata. King and Pantliog. Two plants, of nahmd sise. Fig. 1 front view
of a £ower, 2 floral bract, flattened out, 3 pollinia; all e^ilarged.
17. OBERONIA RUFILABRIS, Lindl. Sert. Orchid, t. 8A.
Sim very short. Leaves narrowly oblong, sub-ensiform, flaccid, -75 to 5 in. long
and '25 to '65 ia. broad. Inflorescence erect, longer than the leaves; its peduncle short,
bearing numerous soft ñliform bracts ; the raceme many times longer than the petiole,
•with very nuoierous flowers iu whorls. Flowers -05 in. in diam., rcddish-browa; the
bracts o f ' the flowers in the lower part of the raceme ovate with long filiform tips much
longer than the stalked ovaries, those of the upper part with much shorter tips and
not longer than the ovaries, the margins of all entire. Sepa's ovate, acute, concave,
spreading. Petals linear-oblong, sub-acute, entire, spreading. Lip fleshy, twicc as long
as the sepals and petals, and of a darker colour than the rest of the flower, narrow,
the whole of its upper surface scabemlous, a minute elongate pit at tbe base just
under the colunm; basal lobes filiform, much curved upwards and backwards ; terminal
lobe narrow, deeply cleft into two lanceolate parallel lobules separated by a deep
sinus with a blunt apex. Glinandrium deeply and unequally toothed; lip of anther
cuspidate. Fol. Orchid., Oberonia 5; Hook. fil. PI. Bi-. Ind. V, G83. 31alaxis nijilabris,
Eeichb. ill. in Walp. Ann. VI, 213
At the base of the Sikkim-Himalaya; Haines, Pantling No. 4:30. Burma; Berkeley,
Kurz, No. 3278?; at Moulmein, Orifiith.
18. OBKRONIA LONGILABRIS, King and Pantling in Journ. As. Soc. Bengal,
Vol. LXIV, pt. 2, p. 330.
Caulescent. Sterna tufted, slender, 2 to 3 in. long. Leaves Unear-cnsiform, acute,
•75 to 1-0 in. long and '3 in. broad. Liflorascence three times as long as tho
leaves, much decurved; the pedimcle about as long as the uppermost leaf, terete,
slender, ebracteate; the raceme taporing to the apex; floral hraet lanceolate,
acuminate, slightly erose, much exceeding the stalked ovary and about as long as
tho lip. Flowers yellow, minute (-06 in. long', scattered. Sepals^ ovato, entire. Petals
linear-oblong, sub-truncate, entire, spreading like the sepals. Lip oblong in general
outline, three times as long as the sepals, with two small rounded auricle-liko lobes
at the very base; the apical lobes broadly lanceolate, sub-divergent, acute, separated
b y a sub-triangular sinus; the middle part of the lip (mesochilo) with a lanceolate
depression extending from near the column to near the apical sinus. Cohmn with
small stout wings. Pollinia orange.
Sikkim; at Song-chong-loo, elevation about 6,000 feet: at Namgah, elevalioii
about 5,000 feet; Pantling No. 227; in flower in July.
The concavity on the lip is deep just under the column, becoming shallower
towards its apex. The winged column is very unusual in the genus. This species
approaches 0. eaulescens, Lindl.; but differs in its longer stem, ebracteate peduncle, in
its flowers not, being in the least wborled, and in having truncate petals and a lip
witii shorter lobes.
PLATE IZK.—Oheronia longilahris, Eiog and Pantling. Two plants, of natural s.'s'. Fig. 1
front iiew of a flower, 2 anther, 3 pollinia; all enlarged.
19. OBERONIA AUEICULATA, imo species.
Sim 1 to 1-5 in. long. Leaves linear-equitaut, acuminate, not falcate, -5 to 1 in.
long and '15 to -2 in. broad. Inflorescence erect, three times as long as the leaves;
peduncle less than one inch, naked or -with a few bracts ; racoma slender, spar.selyflowered;
floral Iract lanceolate, erose. Sepals ovate, sub-acute, the lateral pair reflexed
on the slenderly stalked ovary. Petals erect like the dorsal sepal, narrowly oblong,
blunt, the Uiai-gins erose. Lip longer than the sepals and petals, oblong, narrowed
at the truncate base, widening upwards, the apex divided into two obtuse diverging
oblong lobules by a deep triangular sinus mucronate at its apex; lateral lobes none,
but at each eud of the base a small rounded auricle with a triangular depression
inside it.
Sikkim ; at Sureil and Rungbee at elevations of about 6,000 feet; Pantling No.
166 ; in flower in llay.
Allied to 0. caulescens, Lindl., but in that species the lip has rather largo basal
lobes, and the lobules of the terminal lobe are produced into tails; the petals, moreover,
are entire, not erose as in this.