17 



CYPRIPEDIUM barbatum. 



Bearded Ladt/s Slipper. 



GYNANDRIA DIANDRIA. 



Nat. ord. OrchIdace^e, § Cypripede,e. 

 Cypripedium. Botanical Register, Vol. 10. /oL 788. 



Sect. V. Acaulia ; foliis omnibus radicalibus. Gen. & Sp. Orch. 5.31. 



C. barbatum; acaule, foliis coriaceis acutis canaliculars maculatis, scapo 



pubescente, sepalo dorsali cuspidato obtuso ciliato margine revoluto, 

 petalis lineari-oblongis subundulatis fimbriatis margine superiore verru- 

 coso, stamine sterili lunato pubescente.— Bot. Reg. \84l, misc. no. 110. 



Folia coriacea, oblonga, acuta, canaliculata, rigida, viridi intensiore inter- 

 rupte vittata. Scapus pubescens, uniflorus, purpurascens , foliis longior. 

 Bractea ovata, cucullata, acuta, ovario multb brevior. Flores erecti. Sepa- 

 lum dorsale album, purpureo viridique lineatum, subrotundum, ciliatum, mar- 

 ginibus re/lexis; lateralia in unum parvum obtusum connata. Petala oblonga, 

 marginibus subparallelis, apice atro-purpurea, basi viridia, ciliuta, margine 

 superiore verrucoso, verrucis atropurpureis vernicatis pili/eris. Labellura 

 fusco-purpureum, obtusum, glabrum, petalis longitudine eequale. Anthera 

 sterilis lunata, vertice verrucosa, angulis acuminatis, margine posteriore emar- 

 ginata. 



There is something in the habit of the Indian Lady's 

 Slippers so peculiar, that it was for a long time expected that 

 they would be found to possess characters sufficient to separate 

 them altogether from their associates. The fullest examina- 

 tion however shews this expectation to be fallacious, and that 

 no peculiarity of organization exists among them. In fact, 

 the genus itself has been found to vary so much in the aspect 

 of its species, that the common European and North American 

 kinds convey no idea of its nature. In addition to the Indian 

 forms, of which this may be regarded as a type, the hotter 

 parts of America have furnished, on the one hand, the sin- 

 gular C. Lindleyanum, a hairy rufous plant with panicled 

 flowers, and the scarcely less curious C. palmifolium, which 

 bears the aspect of a Sobralia, and has its flowers in long 



racemes. 



March, 1842. 



G 



