16 OliCHIDS OF THE SIKKIM-HIMALATA.
2 . MICEOSIIUS WALLICEII, Lindl. in Wall. Cat. No. 1938.
Sim about 3 in. long, with a few sheaths below. Leaves three or four, thinly
inombranons, ovate lanceolate, acute or acnmiuate, narrowed to the sheathing base, the
upper sessile, the loiver with sheathing petioles 1'5 to 3"o in. long; the edges much
undulate; length 3 to 4-5 in., breadth 1-5 to 2 in. Injloreaeenee 9 to 12 in. long;
t h e peduncle shorter than the raceme, ribbed; raceme laxly many-flowered; the fioral
tracts lanceolate, one-half of the length of the stalked ovaries. Flmers yellowish,
green in colour-, -5 in. long. Sipak oblong, the dorsal narrower, sub-acute; tho
laterals broader, obtuse. Petals linear, blunt, the margins, like those of tho sepals,
rccurved. Lip slightly convex, narrowly ovate in general outline; the basal lobes (or
auricles) lanceolate, their inner edges straight and parallel to each other, separated by
a space equal to about tlie width of the dorsal sepal. Zip not constricted so as to
f o rm a distinct anterior lobe; its apex flat.or slightly incurved at the notch. Colmm
with vary fleshy rounded arms. Lindl. Gen. and Spec. Orchid., 20 ; Hook. fil. Fl.
Br. Ind. V, 680; in Ann. liot. Sard. Calc. V, pt. 1, t. 2, figures 1 and 3 (excl.
syn., 3Í, biloha). Mahixis ai^uminat'i, Don Prod. Flor. Nep. 29.
Himalaya from Simla to Sikkim, at elevations of from o,000 to 7,000 feet;
P a n t l i n g No. 448; flowering jo Sikkim from Jane to September; also in the Khasia
Hills and Ceylon; Thwaites C. P. No. 2375.
Of his catalogue No. 1038, Wallich issued two sets, one distinguished as 1 from
TSTepal, and the other distinguished as 2 from Sylhet (probably really from the Khasia
m i l s ) . The plant here figured agrees exactly as regards its lip with the sheet of Wall.
Cat. 1838, 1 in the Calcutta Herbarium; but it differs from Sir Joseph Hooker's drawing
(fig. C, Ann, Bet. Gard. Calc., V, pt. 1, plate 2), which represents the lip of the sheet
bearing that number in the Kew Herbarium,—a circumstance which proves that (as in
so many other cases) there has been some mixing amongst the Wallichian specimens.
T h e picture of tho plant itself, and both figs. A and B on plate 2 of the Calcutta
Annals, arc accepted by Sir Joseph Hooker as representatives of the true M. WalUchii,
and these agr-ee practically with the figure here given. And an examination of one
hundred living specimens shows that there is no tangible variation in the lip worthy of
record. The distinctions between this species and M. Uloha, Lindl., are given in our
account of the latter which we treat as a variety of this. M. WalUchii is abundant at
elevations between 5,000 and 6,000 feet in the Government Cinchona Plantation
in Sikkim; but it does not occur at lower elevations, its placo being taken from about
6,000 feet downwards to the bittoms of tho valleys by the variety tiMa. The form
of lip depicted by Sh- Joseph Hooker in flg. 0. of tho plate in tho Calcutta Annals
above-quoted, represents the lip in the Kew specimen of 1938-1, and is no doubt, as Sir
Joseph suggests, a form of M. Wdliekii. In it the apex of the lip is obscurely 3-lohulate,
and tho basal lobes or auricles are divergent; the sepals also are unusually broad.
PLATE NO, IS.—iUtírasíyfe Waliiehii, LLNIL A plant, of natural siss. Pig. 1 flower, front weic,
2 flower, hack mm, 3 column and apes of ovary, 4 vertical Beetion of the lip aad columu, 5 anther,
B pollinia; all enlarged.
Var. hiloU, Hook. fil. Fl. Br. Ind. V. 688; in Ann. Bot. Gard. Calc., Vol V, 2, t.
2 fl"-. D; basal lobes oí lip slightly falcate, converging so that the apices either meet
or overlap; apical portion of lip abruptly bent forward and forming an obovato-oblong
or sub-quadrate apical lobe divided at the extremity into two rounded parallel oblong
MICKOSTYLIS.
Munt lobuhs; arms of the column only slightly fleshy; anther with a small sub-acute
emarginate lip; leaves thickcr in texture than in typical M. WaUidm, less acute and
less undulate. M. Klcba, Wall Cat. 1040; Lindl. Gen. and Spec. Orch. 20; Eidley in
Journ. Linn. Soc. XXIV, 337. „ „• ^T
I n tropical Himalayan valleys at elevotions below 5,000 foet. Pantlmg No. 37;
flowering in Sikkim from July to September. Found also westwards along the Hmralayon
range to Nepal: also in the Khasia Hills. . , j ,
Lindlej- considered this a specics, and Wall. Cat. No. 1940 was issued under the
name of V UbU, Lindl. It was reduced by Sir Joseph Hooker, m his Flora of
British India to variety bibla of M. WaaicMi; and the latter distinguished botanist,
in an exhaustive note, illustrated by numerous figures of the hp, which he published
in vol V of the Annals of the Calcutta Garden, suggested that there are probably several
specie^ included under M. WailicMi as understood by him in the latter work. We feel
satisfied after the examination by Mr. Pantling of a hundred living plants each of
V WMiehii and of M. Kloba, Lindl., that the latter ought to be kept up only as
a dislinct variety of the former. The chief diflerences between the type and the
v a r i e t y are to be found in tho lip. In var. Uioba the basal lobes of tlie lip are
shohtly falcate, and they are convergent, so that their apices either meet or overlap;
t h e apical portion of the lip is abruptly bent forward (as is shown in fig. 2, plate 19),
and forms an obovate-oblong or sub-quadrate apical lobe divided at its extremity into
two rounded parallel oblong blunt lobules. In a hundred plants carefully examined by
Mr Pantlin^ there was found to be practically no variation m these characters. Now
in typical iV. WallieUi the basal lobes of the lip are not at all falcate, their inner edges
being quite straight. They therefore lie parallel to each other, the space between them
bein^ pretty wide; and their apiccs, which are acute, do not converge in tho least.
There is no constriction between the basal lobes and the anterior portion of tho hp;
in other words there is no distinctly marked apical lobe, the end of the hp is rounded
and merely notched at the centre (it is never lobed), the notched part bemg slightly recurved.
But there are other diflerences than those found in tho lip. For example,
t h e columnar arms in var. Moba are only slightly fleshy, and the anther has a small
sub-acute emarginate lip; whereas, in M. Walliehii tho arms of the column are very
fleshy, and the lip of the anther is truncate. The leaves of the two also difl'erthose
of var. Mojo being of thicker texture with a rather less acute apex. Moreover
t h e edges arc only slightly and often not at all unduUte; the leaves of M. Ifal-
Uehii, on tl.e other hand, are very undulate, the apex being acute or acuminote.
Finolly, the flowers of var. bihba vary from pale yellow to dull purple.
PiATU U. - J i iWyS! WMia,«, Lindl., v.r. hihha. A plant, of natural eia. Pig. 1 floivor,
frml vie«, 2 flower, tact new, 3 oolumn and apei of ovarj, 4 vertical eection of column and lip,
5 anther, 6 pollinia; all enlarged.
3 . MICIOSTYLIS SCOTTII, Hook. fil. Fl. Br. Ind. V, 687.
Stem about 2 in. high. Leaves two to five, sessile or with short convolute angled
petioles, obliquely ovate-lanceolate, acute, the base narrowed, 5- to 7-nerved, the edges
much undulate, almost crenate ; length of blade 3 to 5 in., breadth 1-25 to 1-5 in.
Ivfionscene, longer than the leaves ; the peduncle ribbed and bearing a few scattered
linear reflcxed bracts. Ihwers '3 to -4 in. long ; tho floral braei linear, refiexed, as
A S H . HOT. BOT. GAKD. CALCVTTA, VOL. VIII.