P late X L V II.
SACCO LABIUM BLUMEI.
Saccolabium Blumei. Lindley in JBot. Reg. 1841, mise. 115.
Although this plant has much resemblance to the common Saccolabium guttatum, it is in reality
very different. That species is a native, as it would seem, exclusively of the continent of India, this
of Java. That has long slender racemes, this short broad ones. That a leaf with the point irregularly
truncate, this a leaf rather acute, and terminating in a kind of mucro. That has a lip of an oblong
ovate form, this has a lip broadest at the end and deeply emarginate. Finally, the flowers of this
are twice as large as those of Saccolabium guttatum, and differently coloured, there being no spots,
but the sepals and petals having each a streak of violet below their points, and the lip a broad lilac
stain everywhere except at the point, which is white.
At one time I thought this species might be the Rhyncostylis retusa of Blume, because it is
the only Javanese plant I have seen which could be mistaken for Saccolabium guttatum ; but upon
examining the dried specimens brought from the Philippines by Cuming, I find another still more
like that species than the present, and with the “ folia apice bifaristm retusa” which Blume assigns
to his plant, but which do not occur in; the species before us.
These three plants, namely, the true Saccolabium guttatum, the S. Blumei, and the Manilla
plant, which may be named S. macrostachyum, and which is a most noble species with a stem as
thick as the barrel of a musket, and a raceme as long as a field officer’s plume, may be distinguished
in the following manner.
1. S. guttatxm (L. p. 220. Sarcanthus j tt t Bot. Reg. 1443.) ; foliis longis canaliculatis inæqualiter truncatis arcuatis racemis
cylindraceis densifions æqualibus, sepalis ovatis, petalis duplà angustioribus, labelli calcare compresso truncato-coniço lamina
ovato-oblongâ glabrâ dorso subcostatâ, capsulis oblongis hexagonis.-----The Peninsula of India.
2. S. Blumei (Lindl. Bot. Reg. 1841. mise. 15. Sertum Orch. t. 47.); foliis longis canalicülatis arcuatis acutis mucronatis racemis
pendulis densifions obtusis æqualibus, sepalis ovatis, petalis oblongis duplà angustioribus, labelli calcare compresso obtusiusculo
laminâ oblongâ rotundatâ ciliata emarginatâ utrinque costatfi.— -Java.
3. S. macrostachyum (Bhyncostylis retusa, Blume Bijdr. 286.?); foliis longis ligulatis apice rotundatis emarginatis racemis pendulis
longissimis multifloris brevioribus, sepalis oblongis, petalis duplà angustioribus, labelli calcare compresso obtuso laminâ oblongâ
unguiculatâ obtusâ.-----Philippines, (and Java?)