l U ORCHIDS OF THE SIKKISr-HIMALAYA.
1. PoKPAX FiBULiFoKUis, King find Pantling.
Pteude-hdbs crowded and often overlapping, much depressed, retiaikto, -5 in. in
diam. Leaves membranous, in pairs, oblanceolato, sub-acute, sossilo, the edges minutely
ciliolate, 1-25 to 1 7 5 in. long. Flowers in pairs, -30 iii. long; their ovaries short,
sigmoid. Sepals united to form a 3-lippeil beaked sae, gibbous at the base. Petals
obloHg-lauceolate, sub-acute, falcate, not quite so long as the calyx, their apices connivent
aboTe the TCXJ small lip (1-nerved?). Lip half as long as the petals, oblong, clawed
a t the base, its nppor stuface concaTO, the side lobes broad and rounded, the part
beyond them contracted and with laciniate edges, the apes carunculato, a small retrose
callus iu front of the basal claw. The foot twicc as long as the column, tapering
downwards. Bostellum large. Aniher ci'ested and tuberculate, its lip erose. Pollinia
b a r e l y cohering by their minute membranes. Eria fibuliformis, King and Pantling in
J o u r . Asiat. Sec. Beng., Vol. XLIV, pt. 2, page 336.
Sikkim, in tropical valleys at the base of the hills, at Sivoke, &c.; io flower in
O c t o b e r ; Pantling, No. 278.
T h i s resembles Ei-ia Lichenora, Lind!. and E. mtulata, Par. & Reiclib. fil. Its sepals
are, however, united to form a curious 2-Hpped sac spai-sely hiapid externally. All parts
of the flower are of a uaifca-m dull red colour.
PLATE lóT.—Porpai fibuliformii, King and Pantling. A plant; of natural sisú. Fig. 1 flower, 2 the
petals, 3 floral braot, ovary, column and its foot, anther vt &itu and lip seen from tlie áde, 4 lip,
5 column and its foot and anther in situ, rostsllum aud stigma, 6 pollinia; all enlarged.
2. PoRPAX LltiRAX, King and Pantling.
Pseudo-hilbs clustered, depressed-turbinate, almost discoid, -35 in. in diam., leafless
a t flowering time, covei-od hy a .set of thia fibres which radiate from the centre (apex)
a n d are connected by a membrane, not reticulated when fresh but minutely so when
d r y . Leaves two, elliptic-oblong, mucronate, 1 in. in length, shortly petiolate. Fluwer
about -5 in. long, solitary, from the centre of a pseudo-bulb; floral hracf large, erect,
concave, acuminate, twice as long as the shortly-stalked ovary. Sepals connate into a
3 - t o o t h e d bilabiate tube '3 in, long; the teeth ovate, shortly awned, the upper one
re-cuiwed. Petals shorter than the sepaliae tube, oblong-lanceolate, blunt. Lip ovateorbicular
at the base, the apex, obtusely acuminate, the base with a tiiangular notch;
t h e side lobes rouiided, their edges uptm-ned; the terminal lobe oWong, tapurlng to the
blunt apex, the margins entire. Column short, its foot twice as long as the column,
curved, convex in front. Jiostellum large, quadrate, overlapping the upper part of the
stigma. Pollinia 8, unequal, broadly clávate, their bases granular and slightly cohering
in groups of four to a small membrane. Eria Meirax, N. E. Brown in Gard. Chron.,
1880, I, 603; Hook. fil. Fl. Br. Ind. V, 18&. E. Elwesii, Rcichb. lil. in Gard. Chron,
1883, I, 402. Cnjptochihis Meirax, Par. and lieiclib. fil. in Trans. Linn. Soc. XXX, 148.
Sikkim, at elevations of from 1,500 to 2,500 feet; Elwes, Pantling, No. 249; io
flower during October? Tenasserim, near Mouhnein, Parish.
T h e coloui- of the flowers is dull brown throughout.
I n the Burmese specimens, described under the name of Cj-yptochilus Meirax by
Pnrish and Reichenbach filius, the edges of the petals are ciliolate and their surface»
s l i g h t l y hairy, while the edges of the lip are serrulate. In the Sikkim plant the
p e t a l s are glabrous and the lip is entire. The flowers of the Burmese plant also appear
EKIA.
t o be slightly larger. In other respects the two are alike. The minuter reticulations
o n the hyaline membrane wliich covers the pseudo-bulbs are not visible while the plant
i s fresh; they become so only after the pseudo-bulbs have become dry. There are,
however, soraotimes a few radiating and some reticulate nerves which are visible even
o n fresh pseudo-bulbs.
PLATE \bS.-Poi-pax Meirax. King and Pantling:. Planta in flower and Ln leaf; of natural nizc.
Fig. 1 a Bingie plant, showing the discoid pseudo-bulb, large iloral bract and the flower, 2 pa-t of
ovary, column with its foot, aatiier in iilu and lip, seen
column Willi its foot and the anther in titu, 6 under st
L irom tlia side, 3 the petals, 4 the lip, 5
iriaoe of anther, 7 pollinia; aii cnlafgcd.
1 9 . Eria, Lindl.
E p i p h y t a l ; usually pseudo-bulbous, the pseudo-bulbs often elongated and stem-like.
Flowers never large, rarely brightly coloured, often pubescent or tomentose, in racemes
spikes or heads, or on 1- to 2-flowered pedicels. Sepals free, adnate to the
elonfrate foot of the column and with it forming a short or long and spur-like or
s a c c a t e mcntum. Lip sessile on the foot of the column and incumbent. Column short
a n d straight, or long and little curved. Anther imperfectly 4- or 8-celIed. Pollinia 8,
p y r i f o rm or bi-oadly obovoid, attached in fours by their bases to a granular membrane,
or the whole occasionally attached to a single viscus.
A polymorphous genus comprising about 163 species, all tropical Asiatic. It is separated from
Dsndrolium really by the single character o£ having S pollinia instead of 4. We have maintained
most oi the sections adopted by Sir Joseph Hooker iu his Flora of British India, but wo have not
arranged them in the same sequence. Sir Joseph's section Forpax we have restored to geaorie rank;
and for Eria discolor we have restored, as suggested by Sir Joseph himself, fcho Blumean genus
We bave reduced the genus Trichoma, L-ndl. to Eria, as had at one time been suggested
by Lindley himself.
* Ovary and Us pedicel not mnged; peduncle not e^iiUanthj hracteate.
F l o w e r s glabrous or pubescent; never woolly—
I.—Bryobiiim. Small plants with depressed-globular pseudo-bulbs bearing
two to four membranous leaves. Eaoeme from between the leaves,
with small glabrous flowers i- ""i^cicoh.
II.—EyHfneria. Plants with short or long pseudo-bulbs having one or
several nodes, or with a leafy stem, Flowei's usually about -5 to
•75 in. long (some smaller), glabrous or pubescent, never woolly or
tomentose, usually in racemes, rai-ely in heads or spikes.
Flowers -2 iu. long, in 1- to 2-flowered peduncles S. E. hiflora.
Flowers '25 iu long, sub-globose, in dense many-flowered spikes . . 3. E. cononllarioidcs.
Flowers minute, ia dense heads -35 to -5 in. in diam i. E. pumila.
Flowers -5 to -75 iu. long, in many-flowered racemes (1 in. across in
frajrans and only "35 m. long in E. excavata.)
Stems 2 or 3 feet long with numerous leaves; flowers brown,
streaked, externally rusty-pubescent 5. E. hamhmfolia.
Pseudo-bulbs with a single node, bearing leaves at the apes only.
PsGudo-bulbs narrowly oyUndric, 4 to 6 in. long, flowers
white with yellow lip. E. yraimni/oiia.
AKM. EOT. BOT. GAKD., OALCTTTA, VOL. YIII.