Home › P › Pogonia (From pogonias bearded)

Pogonia (From pogonias bearded)

(from pogonias, bearded; referring to the fringed lip of some of the original species). Including Cleistes and Triphora. ORD. Orchideae. A genus comprising upwards of thirty species of stove, terrestrial orchids, with spherical tubers, broadly dispersed over the globe. Flowers solitary or loosely racemose, having free, conniving, or somewhat ringent sepals and petals, either all equal or the petals smaller; a free, erect, undivided or lobed lip, with its disk crested or papillose; a long, semi-terete, clavate column, eared or winged at the top; and a sessile or very shortly stalked two-celled anther, containing two furrowed pollen masses. Plants either having one or a few sessile leaves upon an erect stem at the period of flowering, or leafless till after flowering, and then producing a solitary, stalked leaf from an underground stem. The under-mentioned species thrive in well-drained pots or pans of open, loamy soil, amongst which is intermixed living sphagnum. An abundance of water is required during the season of growth, but after the leaves die off none must be administered until growth recommences the following season. All do well in a warm, shaded greenhouse, in an airy position near the glass.

P. discolor (different-coloured). fl. in pairs, 1 1/2in. in diameter; sepals and petals dirty grey-green, 3/4in. long, spreading; lip white, with a green disk, convolute; scape solitary, 2in. to 3in. long. l. solitary, 3in. to 5in. in diameter, nearly horizontal, orbicular-cordate; upper surface dark rufous-green, often with paler blue-green blotches, bristly; under surface dull purple, less bristly. Java. (B. M. 6125.) P. Fordii (Ford's).* fl. drooping, 1 1/2in. from tip of dorsal sepal to that of the lip; sepals and petals similar, linear-oblanceolate, acuminate, dirty-yellowish, with three brown nerves; lip as long as the sepals, glabrous, convolute portion white; lobes rose-coloured. l. shortly stalked, orbicular, acute, plaited by about twelve strong nerves; upper surface dull brownish-green and purple, sparsely clothed with crystalline, cellular hairs; under surface rose-coloured. Hong Kong, 1883. SYN. P. pulchella (B. M. 6851). P. Gammieana (Gammie's).* fl. six to eight in a raceme; sepals and petals pale lilac, streaked with pale pink, 3/4in. to 1in. long; lip pale green, as long as, or rather longer than, the sepals; scape 6in. to 8in. high. May. l. solitary, quite glabrous, 4in. to 6in. long and broad, with a very deep sinus; young ones plaited between the nerves, with a row of very shallow, broad pits on each fold; petiole streaked with red-brown. Sikkim, 1847. (B. M. 6671.) P. ophioglossoides (Ophioglossum-like). Snake's-mouth Orchis. fl. rose-pink, 1in. long, sweet-scented; lip spathulate below, appressed to the column, beard-crested and fringed. June and July. Stem 6in. to 9in. high, bearing a single oval or oblong-lanceolate leaf near the middle, and a smaller one or bract near the terminal flower, rarely one or two others with a flower in their axil. North America, 1816. (B. R. 148; H. E. F. 70.) P. pendula (pendulous). Three Birds Orchis. fl. pink, drooping, on slender pedicels; lip spathulate, somewhat three-lobed, roughish or crisped above, crestless. August. l. three to seven to a stem, alternate, ovate-amplexicaul, 3in. to 6in. long, the upper one to four bearing flowers in their axils. Stem 3in. to 8in. high, from oblong tubers. North America, 1824. (B. R. 908.) SYN. Triphora pendula.

P. pulchella (pretty). A synonym of P. Fordii.

P. rosea (rosy). fl., sepals greenish outside, lake-coloured inside; floral envelopes lilac, approaching pink; lip with two whitish, ovate glands at the base; scape terete and smooth. August l. lanceolate, acute, stem-clasping, marginate, smooth, entire. h. 3ft. to 5ft. Guayana, 1844. A beautiful plant.