versed through the ovary being recurved). Lip uppermost, jointed on to the base of the column or to a projection from it, mobile; claw linear, incurved; lamina ovate or oblong, peltate, undivided, entire, smooth or tuberculate. Column elongate, sometimes produced at the foot, broadly vyinged throughout its whole length, concave. Anther terminal, erect, 2-celled; pollinia 2-partite, granular.
A small genus of 4 species, all of tbem natives of Australia, 1 extending to New Zealand.
1. C. minor, R. Br. Prodr. 329.—Stem slender, wiry, almost filiform, 2–8 in. high, usually tinged with red. Leaf radical, about half as long as the stem, rather fleshy, channelled. Flowers 1–4, about ⅓ in. long including the ovary, greenish tinged with red, reversed; pedicels ¼–½ in.; bracts minute, acute. Sepals and petals narrow-linear, slightly dilated above the middle, nearly equal; upper sepal attached just above the top of the ovary, the lateral affixed to the basal projection of the column. Lip uppermost, very remarkable in shape; the lower portion claw-like and articulated on to the basal projection of the column; the upper part expanded into a broad lamina which is peltately attached to the claw; lamina convex above and covered with close-set reddish tubercles, which are largest towards the margins, under-surface smooth, concave. Column rather long, with a broad basal projection, broadly winged all round, concave, forming a horizontally placed cup or pouch.—Cheesem. in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xxiv. (1892) 411; Kirk, l.c. 425; Benth. Fl. Austral. vi. 366.
North Island: Auckland—Kaitaia, R. H. Matthews! Rotorua, Rev. F. H. Spencer! Waiotapu, H. J. Matthews! December–January.
A most remarkable little plant. The column is horizontally placed, forming a broad pouch; the lamina of the lip, when at rest, is elevated by the slender elastic claw, and swings directly above it. When an insect alights on the lamina it overbalances, shutting up the insect within the concavity of the column. For a full account of the fertilisation of the genus, reference should be made to Mr. Fitzgerald's magnificent work on Australian Orchids (Vol. i. pt. 6).
11. PTEROSTYLIS, R. Br.
Terrestrial leafy herbs. Root of small rounded tubers on long fleshy fibres. Leaves radical and cauline, either all similar or the radical broader and ovate or oblong, often subrosulate; the cauline lanceolate or linear or reduced to sheathing bracts. Flowers large or small, greenish, usually solitary, rarely several in a terminal raceme. Upper sepal erect, incurved, concave, conniving with the petals and forming a broad boat-shaped hood (galea). Lateral sepals adnate at the base to the foot of the column, more or less connate into an erect or recurved 2-lobed lower lip; the lobes often drawn out into long acuminate points. Petals lanceolate, falcate.
