NANODES (from nanodes, a pigmy; in reference to the small size of the plants). ORD Orchideae. A genus of cool Orchids (now included, by Bentham and Hooker, under Epidendrum), distinguished in having the lip adnate to the column, and cohering with the lateral sepals, above which it is placed, and in the four compressed pollen-masses being sessile, side by side, on an ovate gland. They are natives of mountainous regions in South America. The species mentioned below thrive best in baskets of peat, fibre, and sphagnum, suspended near the glass. NANODES discolor (discoloured). fl. purple, solitary, sessile, terminal, obscure, immersed between the leaves; sepals ascendent; petals declinate; lip fleshy, ovate, minutely crenulate. August. l. ovate-oblong, emarginate, amplexicaul, and sheathing at base, greenish-purple. Stems aggregate, 2in. to 3in. high, simple, densely leafy. Rio Janeiro. (B. R. 1541.) NANODES Medusae (Medusa's).* fl., sepals and petals greenish, shaded with brown, large, terminal, produced two or more together; lip large and spreading, deeply fringed around the margin, rich maroon, with a green base. l. distichous, of a glaucous tint. curiously twisted, about 3in. long. Pseudo-bulb thick and fleshy, about 1ft. long. Andes. A rare and very curious plant. "Altogether, the flattened, stout culms, the pale glaucous colour of the foliage, and the extraordinary appearance and lurid purple of the flower, give it a most sinister appearance, and, for an Orchid, a most unusual one" (Hooker). (B. M. 5723.)