Corysanthes
(from korys, a helmet, and anthos, a flower; flowers helmet-shaped). SYN. Calcearia. ORD. Orchideoe. A genus of small, but very pretty, greenhouse terrestrial Orchids, allied to Pterostylis, and requiring a compost of light sandy loam. There are about fifteen species, distributed throughout Australia, New Zealand, and the islands of the Malayan Archipelago, but they are rarely seen in cultivation.
C. limbata (edged). fl. purple, white. Autumn. l. ovate, cordate, bright green, with reticulated white veins. h. 2in. to 3in. Java, 1863. (B. M. 5357.) c. picta (painted).* fl. with a very curious aspect, nearly sessile, bilabiate; the upper and hinder portion fornicato-adscendent, richly stained with deep purple and yellow; the lower lip divided into four long subulate segments, and a similar body, described as a bract, seated at the base of the short ovary. l. solitary, cordate, ovate, reticulated. h. 3in. or 4in. Java, 1867.