The Scientific Notebooks of German Orchidologist Friedrich Wilhelm Ludwig Kränzlin

Tab. 8183. CYPRIPEDIUM DEBILE. China and Japan.

ORCHIDACEAE. TRIBE CYPRIPEDIEAE.

CYPRIPEDIUM, Linn.; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. Plant. vol. iii. p. 634; Pfitzer in Engl. Pflanzenreich, Orch. Pleon. p. 28.

CYPRIPEDIUM debile, Reichb. f. Xen. Orch. vol. ii. (1874), p. 223; Gard. Chron. 1905, vol. xxxviii. p. 442, fig. 166; Rev. Gen. Bot. 1901, t. 13, fig. 1-10; Franch. et Savat. Enum. Pl. Japon. vol. ii. p. 738; Matsumura Index Pl. Japon. vol. ii. p. 241; species nana, diphylla, foliis late ovatis, caulibus scapisque gracilibus glabris, floribus parvis.

Herba terrestris, 10-15 cm. altus. Caulis gracilis, glaber, diphyllus. Folia opposita, late ovata, acuta, membranacea, 3-6 cm. lata, 3-5-nervia, venis secondariis reticulatis. Scapi 2-4 cm. longi, arcuati. Bracteae lineares, acutae, 1*5-2*5 cm. longae. Pedicelli 1 cm. longi. Flores parvi; sepala et petala pallide viridia, basi brunneo-maculata, labellum album ore purpureo- striatum. Sepalum posticum ovatum, acuminatum. 1*3-1*5 cm. longum. Sepala lateralia connata, ovato-oblonga, subobtusa, 1*2-1*4 cm longa. Petala oblonga, acuminata, 1*3-1*5 cm. longa. Labellum ovoideo-globosum, 1-1*2 cm. longum, ostio angusto. Staminodium spathulatum, cucullatum. —Calypso borealis, Somoku Zusetsu, 1856, xviii. t. 85, non Salisb. C. cardiophyllum, Franch. et Savat. Enum. Pl. Japon. 1879, vol. ii. pp 39 et 521.

An anomalous species, which was originally figured in the Japanese work, Somoku Zusetsu, in 1856, under the name of Calypso borealis, a mistake which was pointed out by Reichenbach, in 1874, when he briefly described the plant under the name of Cypripedium debile; his descrip- tion being based solely upon this old figure. Five years later Franchet and Savatier described a species under the name of C. cardiophyllum, basing it chiefly on a specimen collected on Fudsiyama, in the province of Nippon, by Savatier. They cited, however, the old figure above mentioned, and a still earlier one, in the Japanese work, Honzo Zufu, published in 1828, where it appeared without any botanical name. A reference to the work, however, shows a thoroughly characteristic coloured figure, with both flowers and young fruit. It is now known from several Japanese localities, and has also been found by Père Farges

March 1908