a slender erect very glabrous herb; leaves in a fascicle of 2 to 3, erect, flaccid, linear, acute, 1–2 ft. long, 1/4– 1/2 in. broad; scape lateral, erect, 1 1/2–3 1/4 ft. high, with numerous membranous acute sheaths; spikes cylindric or pyramidal, dense, many-flowered; bracts somewhat spreading, lanceolate, aristate, rather shorter than the pedicels; flowers rather small, yellow, sometimes with purple side lobes to the lip; sepals somewhat spreading, subequal, ovate-oblong, acute, 1/3– 1/2 in. long; petals ovate-elliptic, acute, rather shorter than the sepals; lip as long as the petals, broadly oblong, concave, 3-lobed; side lobes short, semiovate, obtuse, erect; front lobe subquadrate, somewhat narrowed at the base, emarginate at the apex; disc with a few papillae in front, and a pair of short parallel lamellæ at the base; column about half as long as the lip, base produced into a short foot, and forming with the base of the lip an obtuse mentum. null
