Tas. 6880. 
SOPHRON ITIS vionacza. 
- Native of Brazil. 
Nat. Ord. OncHIDEx.—Tribe EprpENDREX. _ 
Genus SopHronitis, Lindl. ; (Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. Pl. vol. iii. p. 535.) 
SorHronitis violacea ; pseudobulbis oblongo-ovoideis tunica alba striata tectis, 
foliis solitariis lineari-elongatis subacutis canaliculatis, scapo vaginato 1-2-floro, 
floribus roseis, sepalis petalisque oblongo-lanceolatis acutis, labello ezquilongo 
rhombeo-obovato acuto nudo basi obscure bigibboso, columne alis magnis 
carnosis falcatis antheram superantibus truncatis. 
S. violacea, Lindl. Bot. Reg. vol. xxvi. (1840), Mise. p. 18, No. 18; Lindl. and 
Paxt. Fl. Gard. vol. iii. p. 11, fig. 238; Reichb. f. in Linnea, vol. xxxv. 
p- 245, and in Walp, Ann. vol. vi. p. 466. 
This is unquestionably the Sophronitis violacea of Lindley, 
though the flowers are not always solitary, and are far from 
being of a violet colour, either in our fresh specimens, or 
in a Brazilian dried one collected in 1837, in which the 
petals have retained their colour. It is a very elegant 
little species, discovered by Gardner in the above-named 
year, who in a note says that he fouud it only once, and 
then as a single small tuft, on the trunk of a large tree. 
Lindley was the first to describe it, but very briefly, from 
a specimen flowered in 1847 by Mrs. Cannon, of Stratford 
Green. Reichenbach, in 1852, published a much fuller 
description in the Linnza, from specimens sent by Regnell. 
He states that it is common on the Organ Mountains. 
Our specimens differ from his description in the more 
numerous (three to six) sheaths on the often two-flowered 
scape. Dr. Reichenbach adds that the labellum varies 
much in shape, from obtusely rhomboid to lanceolate and 
acute, or obovate and acute. 
The specimen here figured flowered at Kew in February 
of the present year, and was presented to the Royal 
: Gardens by Messrs. Veitch. 
Descor. A small epiphyte, with a creeping slender | 
rhizome. Pseudo-bulbs one-third to one and a quarter inch 
JUNE Ist, 1886. 
