

Plate XXXVI, 



BURLINGTONIA RIGIDA. 



Itiirlintrlonia rigicln. Botanical Register, under plate 1927. 



One of the many fine plant* inhabiting the wood* of Brazil, our knowledge of winch was 

 confined to dried specimens until tlio enterprise of British cultivator* succeeded in transferring it to 

 our pardon*. It vu originally found in Brazil, near Villa nova de Almeida, by the Prince 

 Maximilian of Wied Ncuwied ; it wa* afterwards gathered by Mr. Gardner near Rio Janeiro, 

 forming no. 125 of that traveller's herbarium ; and it 1...- been at length procured in n living stale by 

 the Messrs, Loddige*, in whose stove it flowered some mouths ago. 



It is a beautiful specie*, with ft habit unlike that of any oilier genu* hitherto discovered. It 

 first forms a tuft of two or three leaves, of an ovate lanceolate form and rigid texture, whose petiole 

 is thin, folded together in an equitant manner, and articulated with the lamina. Subsequently, in 

 the middle of these leave* appears a short branch, in the form of a ivei'dcmivlii. oval, thin and 

 furrowed, on whose apex arise ono or occasionally two leaves, like the first in form but without 

 the equitam petiole* The plant having ndvanced to (hi* point, and succeeded in establishing itself 

 on the branch of a tree by means of numerous fine rather stiff roots, it next produce*, from the axil 

 of one of the lower leaves, a rigid stem, slender and as thick as a crow's quill, which rises erect into 

 the air. forming two or three membranous sheaths upon its surface, and ceasing to grow as soon as 

 it has acquired the length of eight or ten inches. At its apex it dcvelopes just such n tuft of leaves 

 as that from which it sprang ; and thus die plant continues to live till the period of flowering fall 

 arrived. At that time it emit* from the axils uf one of its lower leaves a flowering stem or SCAPE, 

 s>v or eight inches long, having a few distant membrauous scales enshcathing it, and bearing at the 

 npex a very short umbel-like raceme of several large drooping white flower*, delicately tinged with 

 pink. The dkacts are ovate, acuminate, membranous, and rather longer thnn the pedicel*. Of the 

 sepal*, which are shorter than the petals, the uppermost is oblong, acute, and pressed close to 

 the back of the petals ; the lowermost are united into a single piece, corresponding in form with 

 the upper, slightly split ut the |>oint, pressed close tip to the lip, and extended at the base into a 

 short spur, which is notched at the point. The petals are oblong, wavy, parallel with the column 

 and lip, rounded and spreading al the point. The lii- is considerably longer than the petal*, broadly 

 obovate, two-Iobed, wavy, and narrowed at the hasc into a stalk, which is introduced within the spur 

 formed by the two lower sepals; near its base it has four short wavy elevated plates, placed in 

 unequal pairs on each side of two slightly elevated lines. The colums is parallel with the base of 

 the lip, club-shaped, tapering and hairy, and much shorter than the petal*; at the upper end on etch 

 side stands a long membranous narrow ear. guarded in front by a curved tooth of considerable size. 

 Within these teeth is stationed a glutinous circular excavation, which is the stigma. The axtiier 

 is rounded, uncreated, and abruptly cut ofl* in front- The FOLUX-JU8SBS are two, excavated at the 

 hack, and placed upon a long obovate strap or eaudicula attached to a small oval gland. 



When the column is deprived of all the parts that surrounded it, and so placed as to be seen in 

 front, as in one of the figure* in the accompanying plate, it hears far more rcscmblnnce to a bat's 

 head and neck than to any part of a flower. 



Travellers in Brazil report this spceics to have a delicious scent of violets, but I did not perceive 

 it in Messrs. LoddigeV specimen. 





