OECHIDS OP THE SIEKIil-HIMAL.lTA.
8 . LIPARIS BITUBERCULATA, LLUD!. Bot. Register, sub 882.
Terrestrial. Stems tall, tuffced, erect, robust, fleshy, froui 8 to 10 in. iiigli and '75 in.
iu diameter near the base. Zeavcs four or five, membranous, polished, ovate to elliptiolauceolate,
oblique, plicate, shortly acuminate, the base tapering iato the broad sheathing
petiole, 7-nerved ; leagth 4 to 8 in. Injlorescenca stout, orect, striate, much longer than the
leaves; the peduncle ebracteate; raceme about 6 in. long, rather few-flowered; floral hract
cordate, acute, deflexed, minute. Flowers -65 in. long, dull, brownish-purple (the column
alone pale-green); the stalked ovary '6 in. long. Dorsal sepal linear-oblong, obtuse,
sigmoidly curved backwards, '4 in. long, the lateral pair broader but of similar shape,
spreading. Petals linear, spreading; their margins, like thoie of the dorsal sspal,
recurved. Lip oblong, very concave, deflesed and rovolute from about the middle
bearing two sharp tooth-liko calli at its base; the edges entire or slightly crenalate,
t h e apes blunt with a small triangular apiculus. Column very slightly winged near
t h e apex, not swollen at the base, slightly curved towards the middle. Ridley in
J o u r n . Linn. Soc. XXII, 263; Hook. (il. Fl. Er. Ind. V, 093; Enipusa paraioxa,
"\7all. Cat. 193rB ; Lindl. Gen. and Sp^-c. Orchid., 17. OymUiiim? hiCuheroulatum;
Hook. Exotic Flora, t. 116. Sfurmia lUiibcrcitUta, Reichb. fil. in iSonpIandia, 11,22.
Sikkira-Himalaya at Choongthang, elevation 6,000 feet, and in Lachcn Valley;
P a n t l i n g No. 222; Grifiith, Hooker and others. Kamaon, JBlinkworthj and Nepal,
Wallich. Flowering in Sikkim in June and July.
Didtinguished by the smill size of the floral bract. L. macrocarpa, Hook, fil., from
Sikkim and Khasia, which the author describes as like a large state of L. tuhercuhta
ought, we think, to be reduced to this, as also might in all probability L. o'loniosioma,
a species founded in Linnosa (vol. XL I, 97j by Reichenbach oa a speciiueu collected
in Sikkim by Sir Joseph Hooker. In his Flora of British India (V. 707), Sir Joseph
Hooker treats the latter as a doubtful spicies. The two calii at the base of the iip,
which gave origin to the specific names oiontosimi. and hitaberculata, are not peculiar
t o this, but occur in other species of the genus. This species closely resembles the
plant figured by Lindley in the Botanical Register {t. 1175) under the name L. elata
said to have been introduced to England from Rio Janeiro. In fact Lindley (Gen. and
Spec. Orchid., 27) reduces the Ci/mbidium ? hituhercidatmi o£ Hooker's Exotic Flora
(t. 116) to his Liparis elata. But the note which follows Lindley's description indicates
that there was a good deal of doubt as to the real native country of the plant said
to have been received in the Royal Horticultural Society's Garden from Brazil. The
probability appears .to be that the so-called Brazilian L. elata really came from the
Himalaya, and tliat it is con specific with Hooker's C'jmUihm ? bituhereulitum, and
therefore hitaberculata.. Plants of this spccies vary considerably in robustness
and also in the size of the flowers. The one figured here belongs to the set with
large flowers. Some plants recently received from the Khasia Hills are smaller and
have smaller flowers, and these seem to be fair examples of the species as it grows
in the Khasia Hills. The small form wa^ collected once last year in Sikkim (at
Sureil, elevation 5,500 feet), but it is imcommon in Sikkim.
PLATE SO.—Liparis lituhrculata, Liudl. A plint, of natural s;af. Fig. 1 a oompleto flower, in
profile, 2 tlie lip vieved from behind the base, sbowiug the two sharp basal calli, 3 column, 4 anther,
5 pjllinia; alt eiitarrfed.
9. LIPARIS PLANTAGINEA, Lindl. Gen. and Spec. Orch. 29.
Epiphytal. Pseudo-pulls large, narrowly ovoid-oblong, compressed, smooth, palegreeu,
2 to 3 in. long and •75 to 1-5 in. thick at the base. PseuJo-stem stout,
short, composed of four or five large acute imbricate sheaths increasing in size upwards,
and two leaves. The leaves sub-opposite, sessile or pctiolato, linear-oblong or oblanceolate
oblong, acute, narrowed to the base, faintly 5- to 7-nerved, keeled, 6 to 12
in. long and 1 to 2 in. broad. Inflorescence 8 to 12 in. long, sub-erect or flexuoso,
about as long as the leaves ; the pediincle about equal to the raceme, compresscd
and almost 2-witiged, with one or two linear lanceolate bracts; raceme sparsely
flowered, its rachis irregularly winged ; floral hract ovate-lanceolate, convolute, not
quite so long as tbe ovary. Flowers green, -75 to 1 in. long. Sepals oblong-lanceolate,
sub-acute, their edges revolute, the dorsal spreading, the lateral pair lying parallel
under the lip. Petals linear, decurved, revolute. Lip large, slightly concave, suborbicular
with minutely erose-dcntate edges, decuiwed near the base and contracted
into a shortly auriculate claw bearing a didymous callus. Column with thickened
base and two .very small angular wings. Ridley in Journ. Linn. Soc. XXII,
2 8 6 ; Hock. fil. Fl. Br. Ind. V, 702; in Ann. Bot. Gard,, Calcutta. Vol. V, pt. ],
p. 3, t. 4. L. selligera^ Reichb. fil. in Linnaja XLI, 42. L. orbicularis, Lodd. MSS.
ex Hemsl. in Gard. Chronicle, New Series, XVI (1881), 592. L. Grifllthii (in part),
Ridley ]. c., 285.
Sikkim-Himalaya, elevation 1,000 to 2,000 feet ; Clarke, King, Pantling No. 153.
Upper Assam; Griffith No. 506ii. Naga Hills; Khasia Hills; flowering from June
t o August.
PLATE 36.—L'paris plantaginca, Lindl. A plant, of naitiral
profile views of a Sower, 3 column, 4 boso of the lip showing t
the anther, 6 pollinia; all enlarged.
ke. Figs. 1 and 2 front and
1 claw aod the small auricles, 5
10. LIPAUIS LONGIPES, Lindl. in Wall. PI. As. Rar. I, 31, t. 35.
Fpiphytal. Pscudo-hdbs close together in a row, cylindric and stem-like, with
a few vertical stri» and tightly-clasping sheaths, 3 to 6 in. long. Leaves two»
oblanceolate-oblong, sub-acute to acuminate, sometimes aristate, 4 to 6 in. lori""
and -75 in. broad. Inflorescence erect, slightly longer than the leaves ; the peduncle
slender, terete, ebractuate ; the raccme twice as long as its peduncle, many-flowered ;
floral hract linear-lanceolate, shorter than the pedicelled ovary. Flowers '25 in. long,
palo yellowish-green. iS<ya-"s linear-oblong, sub-acute. Petals shorter than the sepaL
Uuear, obtuse, reiiexed and, like the sepals, with the edges recurTed. Lip broadly-oblong,
recurved from about the middle, the inner margins at the base much thickened so as
to form triangular processes ; true calli none, the sides entire, the apex broad with a
small central apiculus. Caluim slightly curved, the wings very small, rounded. Wall.
Cat. 1948, in part-, Lindl. Gen. and Spec. Orchid., 40; Ridley in Journ. Linn.'
Soc. XXU, 293 (excl. syn. Z. elegaus, Lindl.); Hook. £1. Fl. Br. Ind. V, 703:
Wight's Icones, t. 906 ; Thtvailes' Enntn. PI. Ceyl., 295 ; Bentb. Flora Heng'-Kongi
352. £. fsniuki, Lindl. in Bot. Reg. 1838, Misc. 180. iL. Msophila^ Rcichb "fil 0°'
Hamb. I, 66.