Platk XXIII, 



PHAIUS BICOLOR. 



Phoius tricolor. Genera $ Specie* of Orchidaceous planls, p. 128. 



It is in Ceylon, in .liy pastures, on the side* of high bills near Penubnia, the village „!„.„. 

 the Botanical garden is stationed, thai this charming plant grows wild, and flowers in November. 

 Ii was first made known to me by Mr. Jam,* Macrae, who unfortunately died a few month* after 

 lib arrival in the bland, and I have since seen a drawing by Mr*. Walker, in the possession of Sir 

 Wm. Hooker, from wbieb the accompanying plate hiw been prepared. 



I( is probably alive in the nursery of Messrs, Loddigcs, as it seems to be the only Pharos found 

 in Ceylon, and it appears from their Catalogue llmr there is a species from that island in their vast 

 collection. 



From a fleshy knobby khizona. like that of an Iris, the leave* and hWr-sicms spring inde- 

 pendently of each other. The leaves are about a foot and a half long, do not taper into a distinct 

 petiole, but arc rolled round each other at the base : they arc plaited and very sharp pointed ; at 

 the base on the outside they are invested with green scale*. Tbo flower-stem is a* much as two 

 feel high, naked at toe lower part, bat nt the upper end covered by large, distant, yellow and crimson 

 (lowers, which arc nearly four inches in diameter. The DRACT8 are largo, greenish yellow, oblong, 

 concave, and are thrown off as the flowers expand. The sepals and petals are li'ncar-lanceolnlc] 



spreading, taper-pointed, and nearly of the same size. The lip is very much broader, oblong, rolled 

 round the column, much undulated at the edge, acuminated, and curved downwards at the upper 



end. with a pink limb and a yellow tube ; at its base it is lengthened into a curved horn, which is 



emarginate at the point, and about one-third the length of itself The flowers do not appear to be 



fragrant. 



It would seem that there are two varieties of this plant ; viz. that now figured with crimson 

 sepals and petals, and a pink lip ; the other with every part yellow except the lip ; the latter I 

 know only from a drawing in my library executed in Ceylon by a native artist. 







