Centropetalum
(from kentron, a spur, and petalon, a petal; in allusion to the spur-like appendage at the base of the labellum). Including Nasonia. ORD. Orchideae. A small genus (five or six species) of dwarf, creeping, cool-house Orchids, natives of the Columbian Andes. Flowers mediocre, solitary in the upper axils; sepals sub-equal, spreading, free, or the lateral ones more or less connate; petals similar or broader; lip connate towards the base with the column, at length erect, the lateral lobes scarcely prominent or broader and embracing the column, the lamina spreading, ovate or broadly rounded, undivided. Leaves distichous, short. C. punctatum (described on p. 421, Vol. II., as Nasonia punctata) is the best-known species.