1»H AI ITS BICOLOR
Phaius bicolor. Genera fy Species o f Orchidaceous plants, p. 128.
It is in Ceylon, in dry pastures, on the sides of high hills near Peradenia, the village where
the Botanical garden is stationed, that this charming plant grows wild, and flowers in November.
It was first made known to me by Mr. James Macrae, who unfortunately died a few months after
his arrival in the island, and I have since seen a drawing by Mrs. Walker, in the possession of Sir
Wm. Hooker, from which the accompanying plate has been prepared.
It is probably alive in the nursery of Messrs. Loddiges, as it seems to be the only Phaius found
in Ceylon, and it appears from their Catalogue that there is a species from that island in their vast
collection.
From a fleshy knobby r h iz o m a , like that of an Iris, the leaves and flower-stems spring independently
of each other. The l e a v e s are about a foot and a half long, do not taper into a distinct
petiole, but are rolled round each other at the base.; they are plaited and very sharp pointed; at
the base on the outside they are invested with green scales. The f l o w e r -s t e m is as much as two
feet high, naked at the lower part, but at the upper end covered by large, distant, yellow and crimson
flowers, which are nearly four inches in diameter. The b r a c t s are large, greenish yellow, oblong,
concave, and are thrown off as the flowers expand. The s e p a l s and p e t a l s are linear-lanceolate,
spreading, taper-pointed, and nearly of the same size. The l t p is very much broader, oblong, rolled
round the column, much undulated at the edge, acuminated, and curved downwards at the upper
end, with a pink limb and a yellow tube; at its base it is lengthened into a curved horn, which is
emarginate at the point, and about one-third the length of itself. The flowers do not appear to be
fragrant.
It would seem that there are two varieties of this plant; viz. that now figured with crimson
sepals and petals, and a pink lip ; the other with every part yellow except the lip ; the latter I
know only from a drawing in my library executed in Ceylon by a native artist.