L' C 19 C .11 E S H G IK :R, 'J' '(P N II A iT 117 M .
TAB XL.
CYCNOCHES* EGERTONIANUM
SIR PHILIP EGERTON'S CYCNOCUES.
TRIBUS: VANDEJ3.—LINDLEY.
CYCNOCUES Egertoniamm; foliis vaginantibus undulatis lanccolatis acuminatis racemis multifloris
nulantibus brevioribus; sepalis petalisque suba:qualibus ovatis acutis, labello coluninS. continiio obovato
margine incurvo ciigitis 5 ciavatis utrinque instructo epicliilio lincari raembranaceo digilis vix longiore.
Habitat in Guatemala.—SKINNER.
STEMS from half a foot to a foot hng, hearing scr-cral memhTauom, icary, lanceolalc, .sharppointed,
sheathing LEAVES. UACEMES drooping, niainj-Jioicered, longer than the leaves, sotnetimes
a foot and a half long. SEPALS and PETALS almost similar in size and form, ovate, acute, nearly
an inch long, of a deep chocolate colour on the inner side, and grcenuh tcithout. Lw exactly continuom
icith the column,, contracted at the base, but spreading in a atnneichat oboLHite form, the
margins being turned inwards, and on either side puckered, into five finger-like processes, which
spread themselves out into a hind of cirndar wreath ; the apex of the lip is prolonged into a membranous
point about the length, of the fingers; the ground colour of the Up is green, hut the fingers
are tinged with purple. COLUMN extremely clavate, longer than, the petaU, of a dark purple colour.
STRANGE things—and no less strange than true—have already been recorded of Orchidaceous
plants, but the case which is represented in tlve accompanying Plate casts into the shade all former frolics
of this Protean tribe. The facts are briefly as follow.
Among Mr. SKINNER'S earliest Guatemala collections, attention was particularly directed to the
specimens of a plant which to the habit of a Cycnoches joined the long pendulous stems of a Gongora, and
for the possession of which, in a liWng state, no small anxiety was entertained. Some plants were
speedily transmitted by Mr. SKINNER, but these, on flowering, proved to be merely the old C. ventricosum.
A mistake was of com-sc suspected, and Mr. SKINNER being again applied to, sent over a fresh supply of
plants, for the authenticity of whicii he vouclied : but these were scarcely settled in tlie stove, when
tlowers of C. eeiitricosum were again produced. Mr. SK I N N E R being importuned for the third time,
and being tlien on the point of returning to this country, determined to take one of the plants under his
special protection during the voyage, which, tlowering on the passage, seemed to preclude the possibility of
further confusion or disappointment. The specimens produced at sea were exhibited, and tJie plant itself
placcd in the stove at Knypei-siey, where it commenced growing with tlie utmost vigour. The season of
Howering soon arrived, but brought with it a recurrence of the former scene of astonishment and vexation,