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EPIDENDRUM cinnabarinum. 



Cinnabar Epidendrum. 



GYNANDRIA MONANDRIA. 



Nat. ord. Orchidace^, § Epidendrejb. 

 EPIDENDRUM. Botanical Register, vol \.fol. 80. 



Sect. Amphiglottium, Lindl. hi Hooker's Jour n. of Botany, 3. 81. 



E. cinnabarinum; (L. p. 106.) foliis distichis oblongis apice sub-recuryis, 

 sepalis petalisque lanceolati3 subsequalibus, labello trilobo medio unila- 

 mellato basi bituberculato : laciniis lateralibus inciso-laceris intermedia 

 basi obcuneata sub apice constricta apice cuneata truncata angiilis acu- 

 minatis simplicibus fissisque. 



Among those Western Orchidaceous plants which Salisbury 

 called Amphiglottis, but which I regard as a mere section of 

 Epidendrum, there are some species of great beauty, so nearly 

 related to each other that their limits are with difficulty de- 

 termined. I particularly allude to E. Schomburgkii figured 

 at t. 53 of the volume of this work for 1838, this E. cinna- 

 barinum, and E. rhizophorum of Mr. Bateman, which is no 

 doubt the E. radicans of Pavon, badly described from a muti- 

 lated specimen. They all have bright scarlet or crimson 

 flowers, a pair of tubercles at the base of the labellum, and a 

 ridged line running from between the tubercles to nearly the 

 apex of the lip. They however differ thus : E. radicans has 

 the lateral lobes of the labellum rounded and toothletted only, 

 not lacerated, and it produces coarse pale green roots from 

 its stems ; E. cinnabarinum has the lateral lobes of the label- 

 lum deeply lacerated, while the central lobe is contracted in 

 the middle, and then suddenly wedge-shaped, with its as 

 prolonged into one or two fine teeth ; E. Schomburgkii has 

 the lateral lobes only toothed, with the centre lobe gradually 

 widened to the point, and there toothletted, without being at 

 all truncate ; in the latter, indeed, the lobes of the lip are 

 sometimes confluent ! 



All these plants are in cultivation; but E. Schomburgkii is 

 the only one that has been figured up to the present time. The 

 beautiful specimen now represented was obtained from Per- 

 nambuco bv Messrs. Loddiges, with whom it flowered in May, 



May, 1842. 



JL 



