158
180
G. A. C. HERKLOTS
scrotiform anteriorly, 4 sulcate, neck constricted, mouth closed by a delicate scale that is smooth and of a narrow semilunar shape. I was the first to collect a specimen on rocks in Wong-nei-chung valley, Hong Kong, August 1861.
LINCH
H.K. 3-8-31
3 INCH
Figure 9. Cleisostoma virginale, Hance.
This is the plant I alluded to in the Supplement to the Hong Kong Flora, without having examined the flowers (of which there are but two remaining on my original specimen), as an undetermined species of Appendicula. For the living plant from which I have drawn up the above character I am indebted to the kindness of Mr. Charles Ford, Superintendent of the Government Gardens, Hong Kong, by one of whose collectors it was brought in. From the more typical species it differs by the usually con- spicuous fleshy protuberance closing the mouth of the spur being replaced by a delicate transverse membrane drawn across the entire width, somewhat within the orifice; but it appears in all essential respects a true member of the genus to which I refer it. It is an inconspicuous but rather pretty little plant, perhaps most nearly allied to the very imperfectly described C. bicolor. Lindl. from the Philippines."
The Hong Kong Naturalist.
Orchidaceae of Hong Kong
181
Our notes on this species are as follows, inflorescence typically 3-branch- ed, longest branch with 40-50 flowers, about 100-120 flowers on a whole in- florescence; pollen masses one common stalk, total length 1/10 inch.
COLOUR OF FLOWERS :-Upper sepal green marked with purple, lateral sepals green marked with purple on upper half only; lateral petals pale green slightly spotted with purple; labellum white marked with bright violet purple. On ageing sepals and petals assume a yellowish tinge. DISTRIBUTION:Only found by us in a ravine behind Repulse Bay, in Happy Valley and on Brick Hill, Mount Cameron, and near Tai Tam Tuk, all on Hong Kong island.
FLOWERING SEASON:-Mid July to end of August.
ILLUSTRATIONS:-Figure 8 is of a whole plant and shows habit and method of bearing inflorescence and its form; figure 9 is of a leaf and a flower viewed from the side and the end, and a half flower showing the callus, pollinia, etc.
TAINIA, Blume.
"Terrestrial herbs, with a creeping rootstock, hearing a one leaved tuberous pseudobulb; leaves solitary, long-petioled, coriaceous; peduncle from the base of the pseudobulb, tall, slender, with few sheaths; flowers racemed; sepals narrow, spreading, lateral falcate, adnate to the saccate base of the lip, and forming a mentum with it; petals linear, falcate, spreading; lip adnate to the foot of the column, 3-lobed, disk lamellate; column slender, incurved, base produced into a short foot; anther 2-celled, crowned with 2 short horns or tubercles, pollinia 8, waxy, united in fours by a granular viscus, subequal, globosely pyriform." (8) p. 169.
DISTRIBUTION :—About 20 species in eastern Asia; some are cultivated for ornamental purposes.
TAINIA HONGKONGENSIS, Rolfe.
This species has been described by Bentham as Ania angustifolia, Lindl.; Rolfe's description we have been unable to find so quote Bentham's here.
"Leaves oblong-lanceolate, 6 to 10 in. long, 1⁄2 to 11⁄2 in. broad, narrowed into a long petiole, proceeding from an ovoid false-bulb. Scape 11⁄2 ft. long or more. Flowers distant. Bracts narrow, very pointed. Sepals and petals full lines long, lanceolate, with short fine points. Labellum concave at the base, forming with a projection from the base of the column an obtuse spur of rather more than 1 line; the lamina 6 lines long, obovate-cuneate, entire or slightly 3-lobed, with 3 slightly raised longi- tudinal plaits." (2) p. 356.
One leaf is developed at the apex of the pseudobulb the petiole of which may be 9 inches long the blade as much as another foot in length and from 1-2 inches wide. The inflorescence is borne at the side of the bulb, it is from one to two feet in length the last 6-12 inches bearing 6-12 flowers, distant from each other. The flowers are 12-2 inches in diameter; the perianth segments are green closely striped and speckled with red giving a general brown appearance. The lip is cream or white tinged with yellowish green. Sometimes the flowers are uniform yellowish green with no lines or markings of any other colour. The flowers remain open for 3 weeks.
December 1932.
159