Descr. Stem none. Leaves springing dlirectly firoml thec root. Petioles short, but very thick and triquetrous, expanding into an elliptical ovate blade, the outer ones the longest, all hairy, crenate, obtuse, wrinkled, pale, and with very prominent veins beneath. Scape a span and more high, at first curved downwards, then erect, stout, terete, clothed with copious, patent, red hairs and terminating in a subtrichotomnous, compound corymb, having at the base two large deciduous membranaceous bracteas. Peduncle and pedicels with coarse spreading hairs. Calyx small, with five ovate segments. Corolla large, lilac-purple, yet varied with red and white; the tube inflated, but with a sudden compression towards the base beneath, forming a carina; faux open; limb two-lipped, upper lip of two, lower of three rounded lobes; within the corolla, on the lower side, are two linear, orange-coloured callosities; above at the faux, a broad two-lobed one of the same colour. Stamens two, fertile, with the anthers two-lobed, firmly united to each other; two sterile filaments, and one rudimentary filament. Ovary linear, glanduloso-pilose. Style short. Stigma one-lipped, bifid.
Fig. 1. Corolla, laid open. 2. Pistil. 3. Transverse section of ovary:–magnified.
