Corycium, Sw.; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. Plant. vol. iii. p. 683.
Corycium crispum, Sw. in Vet. Acad. Handl. Stockh., 1800, 222; Bolus, Orchids of South Africa, vol. i. t. 45; Fl. Cap. vol. v. sect. 3, p. 286.
This extremely pretty little orchid was sent to us by Mrs. E. Rood from Van Rhynsdorp in August. Though the late Dr. Bolus published a figure of this species in his “Orchids of South Africa,” we again reproduce a plate of the plant, and it is the first member of the family Orchidaceae to appear in this work. The species is fairly common in the Cape Province extending from the Cape Peninsula up to Clanwilliam and Van Rhynsdorp and into Little Namaqualand. It has been known to botanical science for a considerable time, and was first described under its present name over 100 years ago.
The species belongs to the large group of terrestrial orchids which are characteristic of the south-western region of the Cape Province, the few epiphytic orchids which are found in South Africa being mostly confined to the forest regions of the Eastern Province and the Northern Transvaal.
Specimens are preserved in the National Herbarium, Pretoria (Herb. No. 1467).
Description:—Plant up to 18 cm. high. Tuber 3 cm. long, 1·5 cm. in diameter, egg-shaped. Leaves cauline, somewhat spreading and imbricate, 8-10 cm. long, 2·5 cm. broad, linear-lanceolate to ovate, very acuminate, with undulate margins. Inflorescence 9-10 cm. long, many-flowered. Bracts 2 cm. long, 1·7 cm. broad, ovate, shortly acuminate, as long as the ovary. Flowers sessile. Dorsal sepal 8 mm. long, linear; lateral sepals connate into a bilobed limb, erect in young flowers, becoming deflexed in older flowers. Side petals 8 mm. long, 6 mm. broad above, deeply concave and saccate at the base; lip adnate to the column, horizontal, with a limb 5 mm. broad from a distinct claw. Arms of rostellum rounded, recurved and projecting into the concavity of the side petals.
Plate 61.—Fig. 1, bract; Fig. 2, petal; Fig. 3, dorsal sepal; Fig. 4, lip; Fig. 5, ovary; Fig. 6, column showing anthers; Fig. 7, column showing stigmas; Fig. 8, side view of column.