Plate XVII. 



PLEIONE LAGENAJUA 



A dwarf epiphyte, Iwving the iwudobulba BaeUlraped, green, clouded on the surface with u deeper colour IV 

 learn an of alight grrwi ( ahou| hvonnd A half inches in bmMltli, mid rix «. r right inches long, dceidtiou* 



■ ihi maturation or the psetidobulbs, The flown spring up from Ihe ha<* of the pttudobulbs, and i 

 Kingly from a hooded acute birn t ; t : i« j arc ea< h three inches <>r more acms ; the tepalj and petali liin ar- 

 lance^hapcd -*n-l acuminate, of n light rwy-mauvc colour; the lip roundish, entire and cmiuginatc, its ride* 

 inflected ovei the column, the disk yellow with five crated ridge*, and the margin white, beautifully Baked 

 with * rin 



Pijtiom mos^aku, Un&ltgt Paxton** Fiovtr ArnfrN, ii t. 89. riL:. 2. 

 i : : otxfi uqesabm, Lindtfy fblia Orckidacta, art Ctelogyno, i:>. 



This beautiful plant is found in the Alps of India, it* special habitats being moss-corored rocks and 

 tree-trunk*. It was introduced some ten or twelve ycare ago by Messn. Vcttch and Son, through their 

 collector Mr. Thomas Lobb; bul is even now extremely rare, veiy few plant* baring been imported. The 

 Hi tic group of which ii forms part, ranks n fl ingal the gems of Iho Orchidcous race* 



Some difference of opinion ha? existed respecting the pro]>cr station of these plants in systematic botany, 

 wbttlier, (hat is to say, they should be merged in Ihe more comprehensive family of C(ftntjyne % or whether 

 they should form a genus apart There is something so peculiar in their habit, na Dr. Ltndley has well 

 observed, that it seems desirable to separate them, and he himself had at one time taken this coarse. 

 "Occasionally," he writes, " I have imagined (hat they might In* defined by such ch&ractera as a saccate lip, 

 an undivided lip furnished by bearded not lamellate veins, or by the divisions of the Dower tapering to the 

 base instead of being obtuse. But the litst peculiarity, on which I had most relied, is so entirely *et aside by 

 (\ Bboieriana, which has th** form of C\ cri$tat*t t that after all I find it necessary to leave them us an 

 alpine farm of C ! \ in the hope that future observer* will dWover some sound generic character/' 



The group comprises the following species :— ffiwforwiia, dipkylla, lagcnaria, macNlata t humith, and precox 

 with its variety Wettiehiana* Whether viewed as a distinct genus, or as a section of Ca'toggne, the group is 

 one well marked out by external features. 



Of the foregoing plants we only know the five last as cultivated plants. That which we now figure, 

 from a Bnc specimen that wc have bloomed for several years, i- certainly one of the most beautiful of them. 

 'Die nseudobulbs of Pkunte legeruirk form on the surface of the soil small roundish masses, rather exceeding 

 an inch in height The deciduous leaves {some of which are shown on the Plate lor the purpose of indicating 

 thctr size and form, though they arc not present with the flowcis), are of a light green colour, and -row 

 about eight inches in length, and two and a half in breadth. The flowei* are produced from the base of the 

 bulbs singly, on stems about (Iiree inches high, along with the yoon- bulbs, each flower being three incites 

 across, the sepals and petals of a beautiful light mauve, the lip white finely barred and reined with crimson. 

 The flowering-season is October and November, and the flowcia continue in perfection for three weeks, if 



kept free from damp. 



A., idea has prevailed that these plants are difficult to flower, but wc do not find it so, and wc hare 

 moreover seen them blooming in great perfection in other collections besides our own. When propcrl; 



