Pelexia
(from pelex, a helmet; referring to the shape of the back sepals). ORD. Orchideae. A genus consisting of seven or eight species of stove, terrestrial orchids, natives of tropical America, from Brazil to the West Indies and Central America. Flowers mediocre, arranged in a sometimes dense, sometimes elongated and loose, sub-sessile spike; back sepals erect, connate with the petals in a narrow galea; lateral ones linear; lip affixed to the base of the peltate column, erect, linear, canaliculate, the base produced into a spur-like lamina; column short. Leaves either radical and long-stalked, or few and many-sheathed at the base of a simple stem. The species are not very ornamental. For culture of those given below, see Goodyera. P. setacea (bristly). fl., perigone greenish, about 1in. long; divisions linear, setaceous-acuminate; lip lanceolate, acuminate ciliated; spur half-free, fliform, curved. l. elliptical, pointed, long-petioled, 3in. to 6in. long. h. 1ft. to 2ft. West Indies, 1834 (B. M. 3403, under name of Neottia calcarata.)
P. spiranthoides (Spiranthes-like). fl. greenish, with a white-variegated lip, disposed in a loose spike, 2in. to 8in. long; lip dilated at the summit into a roundish, bilamellate blade. l. elliptical, pointed, long-petioled, 4in. to 5in. long. h. 1ft. to 3ft. West Indies, 1823. (B. R. 985.)
P. triloba (three-lobed). fl. green, disposed in elongated, loose, many-flowered spikes; sepals acute, the lateral ones recurved; lip trilobed at apex. l. oblong, acute, shorter than the petioles. Brazil, 1870.