33 



* PHAIUS albus 



White Phaius. 



GYNANDRIA MONANDRIA. 



i 



Nat. ord. ORCHiDACEiE, § Epidendre^. 



PHAIUS. Lour. ^Sej^a/a et pc^a?a subsequalia, patentia, libera. Label- 

 lum ssepiiis cucullatum, cum basi columnae adnatum, calcaratnm, integrum v. 

 trilobum, saepiiis supra carinatum lamellosuin v. cristatum. Columna erecta, cum 

 ovario continua, semiteres, marginata, elongata. Anthera 8-locularis. Pol^ 



iinia 8, subgequalia. Herbae terrestres (Asiaticae), caulescentes v. acaules^ 



foliis latis plicatis. Scapi radicates. Flores speciosL Gen, & sp. orch. 126. 



P. albus; caulescens, foliis oblongo-lanceolatis acutis subtiis glaucis, sepalis 

 petalisque oblongo-lanceolatis acutis subaequalibus, labello oblongo cucul- 

 lato denticulato apice rotundato : disco 5-cristato, calcare rectiusculo emar- 

 ginato (bracteis cucullatis herbaceis persistentibus imbricatis floribus a?qua- 

 libus). Lindl. in Wallick plant, as. rar. 2. t. 198. gen. et sp. 



orch. 128. 



This lovely plant was originally found by Dr. Wallich 

 upon Mount Chandaghiry in Nepal, growing on trees ; and 



bsequently it was sent down from the frontiers of Silhet by 



Francis de Silva, a collector in the pa^r of the Botanic Gar 

 den, Calcutta. From drawings made in that establishment, 

 the figure in the Plantse. asiaticae rariores was taken ; but 

 it must be confessed that it does not give a stranger a 

 correct idea of the beauty of the original, which ranks 

 among the most showy of the order. So indeed do all the 

 species of Phaius, if well grown ; the finest of which, P. 

 bicolor, a native of Ceylon, with yellow and pink flowers, is 

 still to introduce. 



In some respects the plant now figured, and that of Dr. 

 Wallich, are apparently so different, that some douht might 

 be entertained about their identity, if it were not for dried 



^atoc brown, in allusion to the colour of the original species 



