CATASETUM LAMINATUM.
Y The Variety with spotted flowers.)
C. larninatum; labello lanceolato basi saccato apice marginibusque incurvo basin
versus fimbriato per axin lamella unica camosa alta integra v. denticulata basi
biloba instructo, column^ cirrhata.
C. larninatum. Lindl. in Ann. nat. hist. vol. 4. p. 384. JBentham, Plantce Hart-
wegiance, p. 72.
Var. 1. maculatum; labello, column^, petalisque purpureo-fusco maculatis.
Var. 2. eburneum ; labello ebumeo column^ petalisque immaculatis.
In the general aspect of this plant before flowering there is little to distinguish it from Catasetum
tridentatum ; but its flowers are marked by many striking peculiarities.
The inflorescence is a nodding many-flowered raceme, proceeding from the base of the
pseudo-bulbs. The sepals are narrowly lanceolate and acuminate, of a greenish purple colour, which
varies in intensity in different specimens; the uppermost is pressed close to the petals, the two side
ones are turned back till they touch each other. The petals are thin, pale pink, stained with dull
purple, rather broader than the upper sepal, with which they are parallel, so as to form a kind of arch
over the column, but not touching it; sometimes however they separate, and fall backwards towards
the lateral sepals, or simply spread away from the column. Such was the case in the specimen that
furnished the accompanying drawing; so that this plant has at one time the arrangement of parts
found in the abolished genus Myanthus, and at another a disposition peculiar to itself.
The lip is altogether of a new form in this genus. It has a lanceolate outline, and is hollowed
at its base into a deep pouch ; its edges and point are curved inwards, and along the margin, towards
the base, it is bordered by a fine fringe of slender hairs. From the front edge of the pouch to nearly
the apex is carried a fleshy plate, planted perpendicularly upon the lip, and from four to five lines
deep, which, next the pouch, divides into two lobes, but otherwise is perfectly entire except on the
upper edge, which in some varieties is unequally toothed. In colour this part is variable ; in the
specimen now figured it was pale greenish pink, spotted with dull but deep purple ; and in a plant
that flowered in the Garden of the Horticultural Society, at the time that this article was going
through the press, it was of the purest ivory white, eventually changing to cream colour. The
column is spotted in the variety with a spotted lip, and nearly plain in that with the white lip ; in
structure it is like C. maculatum.
The only Botanists who have found this plant wild were Count Karwinski, whose specimens
exist in the Royal Herbarium of Munich, and Mr. Hartweg ; in both cases it was observed in the
neighbourhood of Oaxaca. By the latter it was sent to the Horticultural Society, who have distributed
it extensively. The specimen now represented was the first that flowered in this country, and
was drawn in the stove of Messrs.JLoddiges.