Home › L › Liparis (From liparos smooth oily)
Liparis (From liparos smooth oily)
(from liparos, smooth, oily; referring to the leaves). SYNS. Alipsa, Sturmia. Including Empusa and Platystylis. ORD. Orchideae. A genus comprising about 100 species of stove or hardy, small-flowered, terrestrial and epiphytal orchids, broadly dispersed through the temperate and warm regions of the globe. Flowers usually dull white, green, or yellow, small, racemose; column rather long, semicircular or two-winged in the upper part, but not branched. Leaves few, sometimes solitary at the base, or below the middle of the stem, on sheathing petioles, often at length contracted at the joint, membranaceous or slightly fleshy, equally many-nerved or sparingly ribbed. Very few species are worth growing for ornament. The hardy sorts thrive in a moist, shady situation, and do best when planted very shallow, and covered with moss. The stove kinds require a compost of fibry peat, sphagnum, charcoal, and very small pieces of crocks, and are most suitably grown in shallow, open baskets. Except where otherwise indicated, the undermentioned species require stove treatment.
L. atropurpurea (dark purple). fl. dark purple; lip oblong, obtuse, recurved, crenulate; lateral sepals oblong-lanceolate, oblique; petals very long, filiform; raceme erect, few-flowered; scape terete. June. l. two or three, nearly round, acuminate, petiolate, folded, obliquely cucullate at base. Ceylon, 1865. A very pretty species. (B. M. 5529.) L. decursiva (decurrent). fl. green, darker on each side of the whitish mid-line of the lip; peduncle narrowly winged. l. cuneate-oblong, with decurrent bases. Pseudo-bulbs thick. India, 1884.
L. elata (tall) fl., lip purple, obovate, retuse, bicallose at base; sepals herbaceous, lateral ones recurved; racemes erect, many-flowered; scape angular. l. many, oblong, acute, folded, shorter than the racemes. East Indies and Brazil. (B. R. 1175.) L. foliosa (leafy). fl. yellowish-green; lip oblong, obtuse, recurved; sepals and petals reflexed, equal. September. l. several, oblong-lanceolate, acute. Mauritius, 1823. (B. M. 2709; B. R. 882; L. B. C. 1097.) L. formosana (Formosan). fl. light purple, with green borders; lip sagittate, acute. March. l. oblong, acute, plaited. Formosa, 1880. L. lilifolia (Lily-leaved).* fl. brownish-purple, with a leaflike lip. July. l. ovate. North America. Hardy. (B. M. 2004, under name of Malaxis lilifolia.) L. Loeseli (Loesel's). fl. pale yellow; lip obovate, entire, recurved; spikes few-flowered. July. l. two, narrow-elliptical; stalk three-cornered. North America and Europe (Fens of East England). Hardy. (Sy. En. B. 1488.) L. pendula (pendulous). fl. whitish-green, small, disposed in slender, pendulous racemes, 1ft. long, giving the plant an elegant appearance. India.