e 
c 
CALANTHE discolor. 
Discoloured Fairbloom. 
GYNANDRIA MONANDRIA. 
Nat. ord. ORCBYDACER, $ VANDER. 
CALANTHE. Botanica! Register, vol. vii. fol. 571. 
C. discolor ; racemo laxo pubescente, sepalis petalisque acutis, labelli trilobi 
columns omnind accreti basi pubescentis bilamellati lobo intermedio 
bilobo 3-carinato, calcare pubescente acuto limbo breviore. Sertum Or- 
chidaceum, sub. t. 9. Bot. Reg. misc. 1838. no. 32. 
Folia oblonga, venis tribus majoribus, ceterisque minoribus interjectis, 
scapo elongato racemoso multifforo breviora. Scapus palmaris ad sesquipeda- 
lem floribus 8-20. Sepala e£ petala vinoso-purpurea ; labellum album sub- 
roseum. 
This very pretty species was first communicated to me by 
M. Auguste Mechelinck of Ghent, who had flowered it and 
C. bicolor. It was subsequently sent to this country, and has 
now blossomed in several places ; no where however with more 
beauty than with Mr. Bateman, whose specimen was a foot and 
half high. Its rich wine-red sepals and petals form so good 
a back-ground for the white lip, which they so much relieve, 
that this species is to be regarded as one of the handsomer 
species of the genus, and is certainly much more worth culti- 
_ vating than C. veratrifolia, furcata, or densiflora, which have 
whole-coloured blossoms. 
I am unacquainted with the native country of this spe- 
cies ; but as it comes to us through the Dutch, it is probably 
either Japan or Java, and most likely the former country. 
In general the species of the genus Calanthe require to - 
be cultivated in the stove or orchidaceous house. It consists 
of plants which appear to derive a considerable quantity of 
hourishment from the soil in which they grow; and the spe- 
cies should therefore be planted in pots 1n preference to being 
October, 1840, d 
