Plate VI. 



BRASSIA MACROSTACHYA 



B, macrnstaehffa ; jiseudobulbis compressis inargiiic obtUSU 2-3-pliyllis, foliis li^ulato- 

 oblongis atriulis abrupt?* acutis, SCapo iiutnntc multilloro, scpnlis Hucaribus 

 nciiiniimtis latcralihus lon^issiiim, lultcllo obltmgo-lnueeolato actnninutn nctalis 

 longioro. 





No species of the genu* Britain hitherto discovered, can be compared for beauty wiih this 

 most graceful nnd brilliant plant, whose long nodding racemes of flowers bend gently over the 

 rich and verdant foliage, while the slender petal* are so Ion;*, so slight, and so delicate its to Ik* 

 agitated by every impulse given them by tlie air. 



Messrs, Loddigcs imported it from Demcrarn, and the accompanying drawing ha* been 

 lying in my portfolio since October I83ti, when tin* (lowers Men* first seen. The only species with 

 which it is necessary to compare it is B, caudata, figured in the Botanical Register, L 832 ; which 

 differs in the following particulars. Its |>sciido*l)iilh* are acute at the margin, act obtuse ; as is 

 represented by the sections at the lower right-hand corner of the plate; its flowers are smaller, 

 greener, and much more mottled with deep brown ; mid its luWIhnn is ovate, acuminate, and the 

 miii- length ^ the [^ t.iU. instead of being oblong-lanceolate, and longer than the petal* 



If it were proposed to combine Odontoglossum with Brossia it would he difficult to point out 

 any great objection to doing GO. Their principal distinction consists in the sepals and petal* of 

 Odontoglossum being unguieulate, and the column winged, or bordered by a thin margin. In 

 habit they are very similar, and if the genus had not l>een proposed by M. Kunth, it may be 

 doubted whether it would be now distinguished. 



A vigorous growing, rich but not deep green, epiphyte* PsKUOo-nuLna oblong, between four 

 and five inches- long, compressed, blunt, and rather extended at the edge, springing from the a\ih 

 of green, carinate, striated scales, the uppermost of which have a foliaceon* limb. Limvr* two or 

 three on each pseudo-bulb, oblong-ligtilatc, about eight inches lo&g mid one and a half wide, acute, 

 sometimes tumid at the base, Scafe radical, a foot and a half long, greenish purple, terete, 

 nodding, covered with (towers almost from the base. Brack ovate, scale-like, much shorter Uian 

 the ovary. Skvals linear, acuminate, spreading, pale yellow, with a very few spot* of crimen ; the 

 upper about two inches long, the lower hanging down, and six inches long. Pmmi.s the same form 

 and colour as the sepals, curving inwards till their points cross each other, rather more than an inch 

 long. Laiikllum rather more than two inches long, pale cream*colour T oblong-lanceolate, acute, 

 crisp at the edge, with a few crimson spots at the base, where it is furnished with two elevated 

 downy lamella?, in front of which stand three horns, the lateral of which are erect and rather 

 recurved, die middle one much smaller aud pointing forward. 



