P late XXVIII.
LJELIA CINNABARINA.
L. cinndbarina (Bateman mss.); pseudobulbis cylindraceo-ampullaceis elongatis,
foliis binis basi discretis oblongis subrecurvis et undulatis, scapo tenui ascen-
dente foliis multo longiore 4-5-floro, sepalis petalisque oblongo-linearibus ob-
tusis fequalibus, labelli convolnti recurvi lobis lateralibus acutis intermedio
ovali crispato : lineis 3 elevatis in axin.
The colour of the flowers of this brilliant species, and its graceful manner of growth, render it
one of the most ornamental species which we possess ; for it is perhaps impossible to match exactly
the peculiar tints of its blossoms among the race to which it belongs. That of Epidendrum vitelli-
num and cihnabarinum, two species of great beauty, of which the former is in cultivation, approach
the nearest; but their colours are really very different.
The species is a native of Brazil, whence it was introduced in the year 1836 by Mr. Young,
Nurseryman, Epsom; and in the spring of 1837 it was exhibited in flower at one of the meetings
of the Horticultural Society in Regent Street. Subsequently it has appeared in other collections ;
and I owe the opportunity of preparing the accompanying figure to materials supplied to me by
Mr. Bateman and Messrs. Loddiges. It flowers freely in the month of April.
The pseudo-bulbs are from four to five inches long, erect, clustered, thickest at the base, and
tapering upwards, so as to resemble a wine-flask stretched longer, closely invested with withered
scales, 'and having at the apex one or two leaves, which are separated at the base by a considerable
interval. The leaves are about as long as the pseudo-bulbs, of a narrow oblong figure, slightly five-
or seven-nerved, and are curved downwards by their own weight. From the apex of the pseudobulbs
springs the scape, a foot or more long, very slender, green, with about three withered scales
attached to it at nearly equal distances; it is unable to bear the weight of four or five flowers that
spring from its end, and consequently it is bowed downwards; and as it swings in the air from
among its dense foliage hanging from a bough of a tree, it must look like a many-headed reptile,
watching impatiently for its prey. The bracts are extremely small sharp-pointed scales. Each
flower is seated on a stalk which, taken together with the ovary, measures about an inch and half
in length. The calyx and corolla are of a most brilliant yellow-scarlet; their divisions are of
nearly the same size, linear, obtuse, the back sepal being straight, the two anterior and the petals
being falcate in the direction of the labellum. The latter (fig. 2) is of the same rich colour as the
other parts, but it is gaily painted with numerous oblique bright purple veins, which Ipse themselves
towards the points of the lateral and base of the middle lobes; it is closely wrapped round the
column, except at the upper end, where it curves backwards ; along the middle are three elevated
lines ; at its base is a passage, passing down the side the ovary, and indicating that the labellum is
really calcarate, but that its spur is adherent to the flower-stalk, as in Pelargonium; the mouth
of this passage is shewn at fig. 2, a. The pollen-masses are eight, arranged as in the accompanying
figure J
When this plant was first seen by me I had no opportunity of examining its pollen-masses, and
took it for a Cattleya, of which it has rather more the habit than of the Laelias at that time known ;
but recent discoveries have shewn that there may be Lselias with the habit of Cattleya, as in this
case, and Catdeyas with the habit of Lmlia, as in C. citrina. The difference between them is not