Scaphyglottis
(from skaphe, a boat, and glotta, a tongue; in allusion to the hollowed labellum). Boat-lip Orchid. SYN. Cladobium. ORD. Orchideae. A small genus (about eight species) of stove, epiphytal, branched Orchids, natives of tropical America. Flowers small, twin or few in a fascicle; lateral sepals prolonged at the base, and often connate with the foot of the rather long, erect column; petals similar but smaller; lip narrow, continuous with the column, but turned up so as to be parallel with it; pollen masses four, cohering in pairs. Leaves narrow, sometimes linear, coriaceous. Stems slender, straggling. Pseudo-bulbs borne in the axils of the leaves. Only two of the species are known to gardeners. These require similar culture to Cattleya (which see).
S. stellata (star-like). This species only differs from S. violacea in having larger flowers, with more spreading segments, and the lateral lobes of the lip as large as the middle one. Demerara.
S. violacea (violet). fl. violet, minute, borne on very short peduncles; lateral sepals produced, oblique, twice as broad as the upper one; lip white, fleshy, channelled. l. 2in. to 3in. long, linear or linear-lanceolate, emarginate. Stems terete, striated, articulated. Demerara. (B. M. 4071; B. R. 1901.)