Telipogon
(from telos, the summit, and pogon, a beard; the column is bearded to its summit). SYN. Thelypogon. ORD. Orchideae. A genus embracing about forty species of stove, epiphytal Orchids, natives of the Andes of Columbia and Peru: it is doubtful, however, whether many of them are specifically distinct. Flowers few at the apex of the peduncle, loosely racemose, showy; sepals sub-equal, free, much spreading, narrow; petals much broader; lip sessile, much spreading, undivided, rarely small; column very short and thick, setose or hispid; pollen masses four; peduncles pseudo-terminal, rather long, erect, simple. Leaves distichous, short, coriaceous or fleshy. Only one species calls for description here. It does best in small baskets full of peat fibre, potsherds, and sphagnum, or attached to a piece of teak, with a little fresh sphagnum wired over the base of the plant.
T. Croesus (Croesus). fl. yellow, with a dark network, 1 1/2in. in diameter; sepals triangular, acuminate, aristate, three-nerved, carinate outside on the middle nerve; petals cuneate, rhomboid, obtuse-angled, five-nerved; lip very broad, flabellate, rounded, many-nerved, the base velvety. l. distichous. Stems narrow and thin. Columbia, 1877.