t 
y 
Tas. 5186. 
CHYSIS sBRACTESCENS. 
Bracteated Chysis. 
Nat. Ord. OrncH1IDE®.—GyNANDRIA MoNoGYNIA. 
Gen. Char, Sepala paulo connata; laterali pedi producto columne adnato et 
calear simulantia. Petala sepala conformia. Labellum trilobum, patulum, venis 
basi callosis. Columna marginata, canaliculata, mutica. Anthera subrotunda, 
opercularis, glabra. Pollinia 8, in laminam luteam semifusa ; quatuor exteriori- 
bus tenuibus, quatuor interiora crassiora abscondentibus. Rostel/um laminatum, 
convexum.—Herbe epiphyte, occidentales ab arboribus pendula ; caulibus Cyrto- 
0 pitta ; foliis nervosis, basi vaginantibus ; racemis lateralibus multifloris. 
indl. 
Cuysis bractescens ; bracteis cucullatis venosis foliaceis ovario longioribus, sepa- 
lis petalisque ovatis obtusis, labelli lobis lateralibus obtusis intermedio mi- 
nore carnoso bilobo hypochilio plicato, lamellis 5 carnosis subzequalibus pa- 
rallelis basi pubescentibus, columna latissima carnosa eymbiformi antice 
pubescente. Lindl. 
Cuysis bractescens. Lindl. Bot. Reg. 1840; Misc. n. 131; e¢ 1841, ¢. 23. 
Chysis bractescens is a Mexican plant introduced by Mr. 
George Baker, with whom it blossomed in 1840. So many 
intermediate forms exist between this and the original C. aurea, 
on which the genus was founded, that we cannot but question 
if the two are really distinct. The main character of this is 
made to depend on the “large, white, not yellow, flowers, and 
the great leafy bracts” of the plant now figured, whence too 
the specific name; but the bracts are certainly variable in diffe- 
rent individuals, and the colour of the sepals and petals no less 
so. Our C. bractescens has the flowers much larger and of a 
purer white than Dr. Lindley’s figure represents, but the label- 
lum is more yellow than his figure exhibits them; and we have 
given a figure of a very deeply coloured C. aurea at our Tab. 
4576, of which we were uncertain whether it should be referred 
to that or to the present species. Our very noble specimen here 
figured was drawn from a plant in the Royal Gardens of Kew, 
in 1847. 
Fig. 1. Front view of the labellum. 2. Column. 3. Pollen-masses :—mag- 
nified. 
JUNE Ist, 1860. 
