P late V I.
BRASSIA MACROSTACHYA.
B.macrostachya; pseudobulbis compressis margine obtusis 2-3-phyllis, foliis ligulato-
oblongis striatis abrupt^ acutis, scapo nutante multifloro, sepalis linearibus
acuminatis lateralibus longissimis, labello oblongo-lanceolato acuminato petalis
longiore.
No species of the genus Brassia hitherto discovered, can be compared for beauty with this
most graceful and brilliant plant, whose long nodding racemes of flowers bend gently over the
rich and verdant foliage, while the slender petals are so long, so slight, and so delicate as to be
agitated by every impulse given them by the air.
Messrs. Loddiges imported it from Demerara, and the accompanying drawing has been
lying in my portfolio since October 1836, when the flowers were first seen. The only species with
which it is necessary to compare it is B. caudata, figured in the Botanical Register, t. 832; which
differs in the following particulars. Its pseudo-bulbs are acute at the margin, not obtuse: as is
represented by the sections at the lower right-hand corner of the plate; its flowers are smaller,
greener, and much more mottled with deep brown; and its labellum is ovate, acuminate, and the
same length as the petals, instead of being oblong-lanceolate, and longer than the petals.
If it were proposed to combine Odontoglossum with Brassia it would be difficult to point out
any great objection to doing so. Their principal distinction consists in the sepals and petals of
Odontoglossum being unguiculate, and the column winged, or bordered by a thin margin. In
habit they are very similar, and if the genus had not been proposed by M. Kunth, it may be
doubted whether it would be now distinguished.
A vigorous growing, rich but not deep green, epiphyte. Pseudo-bulbs oblong, between four
and five inches long, compressed, blunt, and rather extended at the edge, springing from the axils
of green, carinate, striated scales, the uppermost of which have a foliaceous limb. Leaves two or
three on each pseudo-bulb, oblong-ligulate, about eight inches long and one and a half wide, acute,
sometimes tumid at the base. Scape radical, a foot and a half long, greenish purple, terete,
nodding, covered with flowers almost from the base. Bracts ovate, scale-like, much shorter than
the ovary. Sepals linear, acuminate, spreading, pale yellow, with a very few spots of crimson; the
upper about two inches long, the lower hanging down, and six inches long. Petals the same form
and colour as the sepals, curving inwards till their points cross each other, rather more than an inch
long. Labellum rather more than two inches long, pale cream-colour, oblong-lanceolate, acute,
crisp at the edge, with a few crimson spots at the base, where it is furnished with two elevated
downy lamellae, in front of which stand three horns, the lateral of which are erect and rather
recurved, the middle one much smaller and pointing forward.