18 ORCHIDS OF THE SIKKISI-HIMALAYA.
]oag as the shortly pediceUed ovavy. Donal sepal narrowly oblong, sub-acute; the
lateral septls half as long, wider, blunt, all revolute. Petals linear, as long as the
doi'sal sepal. Lip triangular-ovatij, the basal lobes obliquely lancoolate, converging, but
the tips not meeting ; the end (apical) lobe triangular, its apex acute and minutely
eniargiiiate. Hook. Ic. Plant, t. 2001.
SiUkim Himalaya; in the Tessta Valley, at elevations of 1,000 to 2,500 feet.
Pantling No. 220; ilowering from July to September. Burma, at Ringoon, J. Scott.
This charming species was dedicated by Sir J. D. Hooker to the late Mr. John
Scott, for many years Curator of the Botanic G-arden, Calcutta, and was originally
desci'ibed by its author from a specimen, brought from Rangoon by Mr. Scott, which
flowered and was figured in the Calcutta Garden. The species has of late years been
found in the Teeata Valley in Sikkim at elevations between 1,000 and 3,500 feet; and
it is a Sikkim specimen which is here figui-ed. A comparison of the present figure
with that of the Burmese plant given by Sir Joseph, in his Icones Plautarum, t. 2001,
shows that the Burmese plant has rather a different lip, being on the whole broader,
with more obtuse basal lobes which are much less distinctly separated from the
apical lobe; the apical lobe itself is, moreover, rather more deeply emarginate. In
all other respects the Sikkim and Burmese plants agree. The leaves of this species
are beautifully coloured, being dark-grean and purple, with a pale border suffused with
purple and dotted with green. The inflorescence, bracts, sepals and petals are also
purple, the lip being greenish-yellow. (Since the foregoing was written, we learn from
Sir Joseph Hooker that tliis species is identical with M. cdlypliylU, Reichb. fil. in Gard.
Chron. 1879, II, 718.)
Plate '¿^.—Microsiylii Scot/ii, Hook. fil. A plant, qf naiural sise. Pig. 1 a flower, front view,
2 the same, dad view ; 3 oolumn, 4 anther, 5 polliaia; ali cii/arged.
•i. JIicEOSTms SAPROPHYTA, King and Pantling in Journ. As. Soc. Beng.
Vol. LXV 11896), pt. 2, 118.
Terrestrial, leafless, saprophytic; the whole plant 3 to 6 in. high, glabrous.
Sfem tuberous at the base, with a few short crowded sheaths just above the
bulb and two or three scattered lanceolate bracts -30 in. long, liacenie 1 to 2 in. long,
lax; Jloral bract lanceolate, equalling or exceeding the sab-sessile ovary. Flowers .13
in. long, inverted. Sejjah ovate, blunt. Psials linear ; the dorsal sepal retloxed and
adpressed to the ovary, the lateral sepals and the petals revolute. Lip rotund-rcniform,
entire, with a semi-lunar convex fold in the middle of the unper surface; the basal
auricles erect, rather short and broad, sub-acute.
Sikkim-Himalaya, at Choongt!iang, elevation 6,000 feet; also in the Lachen valley;
Pantling, No. 394.
The flowers, which are greenish, open about July.
A singular plant, quite unlike any other species in the genus except the next.
The bulb at the base of the stem is about '35 in. in diameter.
Pi.ATE 21.—Miscrostylis mpropkyta. King and Pantling. Thres entire plants, of nataral iise. Fig. 1
flower, front riew, 2 flower, vi profik, 3 flower, assn from h&hind, 4 anther, 5 pollinia; oil unlurg^.
0. MlCROSTiLIS APHYLLA, nCW spociss.
Terrestrial, leafless, parasitic on roots, the whole plant 7 to 9 inches high. Tiihor
at the base of the stem irregularly oblong, sub-horizontal, smooth, '75 in. long. Siem
MICEOSTYLIS. ^^
ribbed, clothed at the base with three or four short membranous sheaths -25 to '5 in.
long, 'and further up with two or three herbaceous pale-green tubular sheaths 1 in.
long! Bmeme longer than the peduncle; ßoral braot lanceolate, as long as the
stalked ovary, deflexed to the rachis, the bracts of the lowest flowers longest. Fkmrs
•15 in. long, yellowish, flushed with dull purple. Sepals elliptic, sub-obtuse; the
dorsal orect° its margins revolute; the lateral pair recurved, the linear petals resting
upon them. L!p almost flat, ovate, the apex blunt, the margins entire, the base with
two broad blunt sub-falcate erect lobes. Arms of the oolmtn stout, notched. Lip o£
the anther truncate.
Sikkim; in the valley of the Teesta, elevation 1,000 feat ; Pantling No. too;
flowering in June.
The nearest ally of this is M. saprophjta^ but this is in every way a larger
plant; the tuber is elongated, not orbicular, the dorsal sepal is eroct, not reflexed and
not adpressed to the ovary; the lip in this is more pointed than in M. safrophyia,
and it has no convex fold on its upper surface as in that species.
Plate ^'¿.—Mierost0s ophyllo, King and Pantling. Two plants, of natural sise. Fig. 1 flower,
front view, 2 flower, stile oiew, showing also ovary and floral bract, 3 empty anther, 4 poUinia; alt
enlarged.
6 . Miceostyiis cosoesta, Reichb. fil. in Walp. Ann. VI, 206.
S im 4 to 10 in. long, thickened near the base, tufted. Leaves throe to six, ellipticlanceolate,
oblique, acute or acuminate, the base narrowed and sheathing, sessile or
shortly petiolate, 7-nerved, the edges undulate; length of blade 3 to 12 in., breadth
•76 to 4-5 in. Inpreseenee 6 to 14 in. long; the peduncle striate, with a few scattered
subulate reflexcd bracts -6 in. long; prat bract lanceolate, acuminate, nearly as long
as or exceeding the undulatelywinged stalked ovary. Flowers •2.5 in. long, resupnrate,
red or yellow, much crowded. Sepals oblong, sub-obtuse, the lateral pair falcate. Pclak
linear, obtuse. Lip rather fleshy, oblong, concave, scarcely exceeding the lateral
sepals in length; its basal part without lobes; its anterior part S-lobed, having two
elongated, narrow, lateral lobes connected close to the column by a flat transverse
callus, their free anterior extremities blunt; the apical lobe short, narrowly ovate,
snb-acnte. Ridley in Journ. Linn. Soc. XXIV, 334; Hook. fil. Fl. Br. Ind. V, 689.
M. Bernaysii, F. Müll. Frag. Fl. Aust. XI, 21. M. fmoa, Reichb. fil. in Walp. Ann.
VI, 20r. M. tritoUata, Kurz Andam. Rep. Append. B. XIX; N. E. Brown in Gard.
Chron. 18S3, 392. ? M. flaocscens, Lindl. Gen. and Spec. Orchid, 20; Ridley Journ.
Linn. Soc. XXIV, 337. Dienia eongesta, Lindl, in Wall. Cat. No. 1936; Gen. and Spec.
Orchid, 22; in Bot. Reg. under t. 835; Reichb. fil. in Bonplandia, III, 259. D. fmca,
Lindl. Gen. and Spec. Orchid, 22. Malaiis UlifoUa, Smith in Rees' Cyclop. M. plicata,
Eoxb. Fl. Ind. III, 456. Orepidium ßamscetts, Blume Bijdr., 388.
Tropical Himalaya from Nepal to Bhotan; in Sikkim from 600 up to 2,500
feet; Pantling No. 89. Parasnath; Khasia Hills; Munipore; Burma; the Andaman
Islands; the Deccan and Ceylon. Also in Malaya, China and Australia.
This spocies has a very different lip from any other iMiavsti/Us described in the
present work; the basal lobes, so prominent in the others, being in this entirely absent..
There are moreover two transverse calli on the Ep,—one at the base jast beneath the
Akx. Roy. Box. G..-KD. OALCurrA, Ton. YIIX.