I'l.ATK XV. 



NIAL.KNOPSIS LOWII. 



A lovely store epiphyte, producing thick root* from a short stent, which is famished with a fevf oblong-acute flesh] 

 leaves, and bears a slender, braurhin-* (lower-stem, supporting numerous showy whin- flower*, delicately tinted 

 with rMcand baring a deep rosy-puq>lo lip. The dorsal Aepal u broadly ovoto»ociitc, the lateral ones oblonR; 

 the petals are broad, very obtuse, amenta nt the huso; and the lipi tni I, thn lobed, w long as the I 

 sepals, orose *■* the apex, and crested at the base, its latent) lobes short, linear, and reflcxed, the middle one 

 oblong, with a corinnto median line; the column is furnished with i long proboaeiform rottclluia, 



I'liALXNoi-sis Lowii. Rtkhrnlrtrh jlh* Itowisch* Ztitmg % IS62, 21 t. Botanical Mwj<t:iu*< u 5351, 



We hare in Phuhtttojm* /<orii q very beautiful and di&tinct specie.-; of tins queenly genus, which, 

 though it cannot compete in point of size with some members of the family already figured by us, yet for 

 the delicate colouring of its (lowers and its chaste beauty, is surpassed by no other that has hitherto been 

 introduced. Our Illustration was taken from a plant kindly furnished by the lute J. A. Turner, Esq., of 

 Manchester, in whose collection it bloomed in (he autumn of ISGfi. This L« by far the finest specimen of 

 its kind that has come under our notice, and is a line example of the skill acquired by the gardener, Mr, 

 Toll, in ihe cultivation of these plants. The example figured in the ' Botanical Magazine/ above quoted, 

 the first figure of this species which had beon published, represents it in a much less developed condition, 

 and bearing only four (lowers on the spike* 



If, observes* Sir \V, Ilooker, in lib remarks accompanying the Plate jus! adverted to, — " if this species 

 falls short, in size and purity of while in the flowers, of the well-known PhaJmopw* amabilU % it compensates 

 lor those deficiencies in the delicate rose-tint of the petals and labeltnm ; and the shape of Ihe lip and of 

 Ihe rostclhnn are very remarkable, — that of the latter quite resembling the head ami long beak of a bird," 

 It is truly a most lovely plant, perfectly distinct from all other known species, — approaching, indeed, in the 

 size of its flowers and the breadth of its petals, (o the old familiar pure white species, Pkahenopm ama&ili* 

 and I\ grand/flora, but in its tints coming nearer to Phal&itojwis rwca and J\ intermedia; while in the 

 form of its lip, and in the long probosciform beak of the column, it is very remarkable, and unlike anything 

 cbo which occurs in the genus. 



We arc indebted for the introduction to our gardens of this novel and beautiful species to the Messm, 

 Low, of Clapton ; and to them belongs the credit of having lir^t flowered it in the country, a circumstance 

 graccfolly acknowledged by Professor Iteiehenbaeh, in the naming of the plant in honour of Mr, Stuart 



Low. It was Originally discovered by the Rev, 0, Parish, in Moulmein, n regi f British India which 



seems to abound in rich, ran*, ami beautiful species of Orehidaeeaf t for a great quantity of our newest and 

 choicest East Indian Orchids an* natives of that province. 



The plants of this genus farm none of the thick fleshy pscudobulbs, in which nutriment can be stored 

 to sustain vitality during a long period of drought* so common in tliis order; but, on the contrary, they 

 have tender, fleshy leaves, which, if injured in any manner, cause the whole plant to rot. "They are conse- 

 quently very difficult to import in a living Mali* into this country; and the present Species in particular 

 would seem to be less able than others to withstand the drought and confinement of the voyage homo, so 

 that, up to the present lime, it remains a rare plonl in cultivation. As, however, it appears to bo tolerably 



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