AÖ" OR C H I D S OF THK SIEKIM-HIMAL.AYA
i . AGi{OSROPHYIJ.UM BREVIPES, Kiug and Pantling.
Rhizome thin, covered with spreading subulate scales. Stems 10 to 13 ia. long,
erect, clavate, risiug from the rhizome about an inch apart, slightly compressed, clothed
in the lower half with large imbrícale membranous sheaths about 1 in. long. Leaves
membranous, liuear-obloDg, widest at the sessile sheathing base; the apex sub-acute,
minutely biftd; length 1-5 to 5 in., breadth -2 to -35 in. Head -75 in, in diam.,
composed of numerous 2-flowered pcdicels on a very short common peduncle. Flowers -25
iu. in diam., wh itc. Sepals sub-ccjual. J?cials sub-orbicular, 5-iierrcd. Lip about tho sam©
length, oblong, 3-lobed, concave, not spurred or saccate; the lateral lobes broad and
rounded witli a largo callus between tliem and two smaller conical calli betweun these
and the oblong sliortly biSd smooth terminal lobs. Column short, slightly winged near
the apex, the foot very short, the clinandrium dentate. Lip of anther acute. Tollinia 8,
unequal, all cohering by a short caudicle to a smaU cordato gland. Capsule narrowly
ellipsoid, -35 in. long. A. calhsum, Re^chb. fil. Hook. fil. Fl. Br. Ind. V, 824 {in pari).
Silikitn, at elerations of about 2,000 feet; in flower during June and July;
Pantling, No. 34.
All the parts of the flower ia this spccáes are white, with the excnplion of the
column and anther wliich are dark crimson. This specios differs from trno A. eallosum,
Reichb. fil., wi(.h which it has hitheiio been confused, in being a smaller plant, with
stems half the length of those of trae A. callosim, fewer and shorter leaves, smaller
flowers in smaller heads, a winged olumn with a longer foot, and a fully developed
cordate polliniar gland. This moreover is practically a tropical species, not ascending to
more than 2,000 feet; whereas true A. eallosum occurs at elevations o£ about 6,000 feet.
PÍATE 2\'i.—Agrodophyllnm brevipeH, Hing and Pantling. A plant ; of natural äse. Fig. 1
side view of a flower \ntli its brant, attaobs'i to its pedicel, the other flower being cut off, 2 apes
of column, anther aad lip, side view, 3 lip, 4 colunm aad anther, 5 under surface of empty anther,
G polliaia; ail enlaigcd.
29. Rital3, n. gsn., King and Pantling.
Epiphytal; stem much and .sub-dichotomously branched, densely clothed with scarious
sheaths; the branches short and bi.iaring a terminal, sheatlied, 1- or 2-fio\vored peduncle.
leaf fleshy, lanceolate, jointed to the axis at the end of a branch. Fhioers small,
puberulous. Lateral sepals with broad bases adnate to the produced foot of the
column, and with acuminate contiivent apices. Lip adnate by its margins to the column
and its foot and forming with them a wide short sac septate and pubescent at the
mouth; its anterior part very fleshy, convex, entire, sub-orbicular. Anther on the apex
of the column broad, depressed, 8-celled. Pollinia 8, unequal (four being smaller), united
by foui-s to a single elongate gland.
A geaus resembling Appendicitla to some esAent in hahit, but with more branohing stems and a
fewer-flowered infioresoence. It differs widely from Appendictila, bowoTsr, ia hiving the anther on the
summit of the column instead of on the back of it; in having 4 polliuia instead oE 8; ia having a
septum at the mouth of the sac formed by the adhesion of the edges of the lower psrfc of the lip to
the column; and iu the anterior part of the lip being a solid ileshy Bub-orbionlar mas?, We have
dedicate;! the genus to Mr, Rita, of the Khasia Commission, an enthusiastlo collector of orchids, to
whom we are much beholden for most efficient nssistanco in the exploration of the Orchid Flora of
t h e Hhasia Hills.
RiTiiA HiMALAiCA, King and Pantling.
Slem pendulous, sub-dicliotomously branched, clothed throughout with imbricate scarious
strongly-nerved sheaths; the branches short, each bearing a single terminal peduncle
and a solitary loaf. Leaf fleshy, linoar-oblong, jointed to the axis, its apex obliquely
notched and acuto, its base tapering to the short petiole; length 2-5 to 4 in., breadth
about "3 in. Pedunclc from the axis at the side of the base of a leaf, sheathed by two
bracts and with two small opposite scarious sub-rotund bracteoles at its base, 1-flowercd
or occasionally 2-flowered. Flowers •25 in. long., pale yellow, pubescent externally;
the floral Iract ovate, acute, sheathing, rather longer than the sessile ovaiy. Dorsul
sepal ovate-lanceolate, concave, sub-acute; the lateral pair broader, abruptly and bluntly
acuminate, incurved. Petals about as long as the sepals, spreading, linear, acute.
Lip fleshy, not lobed, its lower part attached to the inner half of the column and to
its foot to form a short wide sac with a septate pubescent mouth; the anterior part
o£ the lip thick, fleshy, convex, sub-orbicular, notched at the apex. Column very short
with a short foot. Sti'jma broad and flat. Anther 4-celled, terminal. Pollinia 8, clavate,
unequal, connected by granular threads to a small oblong gland. Ceratostylis himalaica,
Hook. fil. Ic. Plant., t. 2101 ; Fl. Br. Ind. V, 826.
Sikkim, at Tendong, elevation 5,000 feet; in flower during May and June; Pantling,
No. 149.
PLATE 2U.—Rilaia himalaica, King and Pantliag. A plant; of naUirnl st«. Fig. 1 pedicel with
its basal bracts, floral bract, ovary and flower, side view, 2 flower, front view, 3 half profile viow of
column, lip and sao, the sepals and petals hnving been out off, 4 view from above of the clinandrium
(£'), the anther having been removed, septate mouth cf spur and lip, 5 empty anther, 6 pollinia;
all enlarged.
3 0 . lone, Lindl.
Epiphytal; pseudo-bulbs from a creeping rliizome, l-leaved. Scape from the base
of a ps-3udo-bulb. Flowers elongate, solitary, in pairs, or in secund or distichous
racemes. Sepak membranous; the lateral pair more or less coherent under the lip by
their inner edges. Petals smaller than the sepals, spreading. Lip attached to the foot
of the column by a broad base, entire, not mobile, equalling or exceeding the sepals
in length, fleshy in the centre and produced at the apex into a tongue-like point,
sometimes not fleshy and sometimes with an cmarginate apex. Columu short, with no
foot or with a short one; the rostellum formed by two undivided broad and deflexed
elongate processes. PoUinii 4, equal in size, elhpsoid, attached by pairs to two elongated
elastic caudicles, without or with a gland or glands. About eiglit species; natives of
the mountains of India and Ceylon.
The form nnd Eunctions of the rostellum and of the caudicles of the pollinia in this genus
can be understood on'y by examination of fresh flowers. In I. pa'eaoea and I. bicolor the rostellum
consiits of two long narrow downward-pointing processes. The four pollinia are of the same size
and shape, and they lie in a horizontal row, all being equally exposed. Thoy are attached
b y pairs to two elongated tapering caudioles of tough clastic tissue which rather exceed the rostellar
processes in length The caudioles lie on the upper surfaces of the lostellat processes, but, being
longer, their ends, which ai-o quite free, project beyond the extremities of the former. Each of these
froe ends is provided on its lower surface with a little mass of viscid adhesive substance. When one oE
these caudicles is removed by allowing its viscid end to adhere to a Ihin rod of woo5, the two pollinia
at its apex are soon seen to fall slowly forward, owing to the bending of the caudicle. In I . bkuWr