Tab. 5618. 

 CATTLEYA Dowiana. 



Captain Bow's Cattleya. 



Nat. Ord. Obcjiideje. — Gynandbia Monandbta. 

 Gen. Char. {Vide supra, Tab. 4700). 



Cattleya Dowiana; pseudobulbis validis clavatis sulcatis monophyllis, 

 foliis lato-oblongis obtusis, spatba obtusa pedunculo 2-6-floro sub- 

 aequali, floribus speciosissimis, sepalis lanceolatis acutis seasilibus 

 planis, petalis plus quam duplo latioribus raargine contortis obtusius- 

 culis labello subaequalibus, labello maximo obscure trilobo oblongo 

 emarginato crispo disco laevi araplissimo velutino atro-purpureo venis 

 aureis pulcberrime ornato, columna subarcuata labello fere obtecta 

 et labello 3-plo breviore. 



Cattleya Dowiana. Bateman in Gard. Chron., Oct. 1866. 



This superb Cattleya was originally discovered by Warsze- 

 wicz in Costa Rica, and by him plants were forwarded to 

 this country ; but arriving in bad condition they eventually 

 died. The dried specimens moreover that accompanied the 

 living plants seem to have been mislaid or destroyed, so that 

 during the last ten years doubts had come to be entertained 

 as to the existence of a really distinct species of such unex- 

 ampled beauty as that which the letters of the veteran tra- 

 veller described. And in the mean time his name was given 

 to another supposed species respecting which the greatest 

 confusion now prevails, and which, whether or not it be a 



^mere variety of C. Mossia? (labiata), is at all events perfectly 

 different from the glorious thing to which even the double 

 plate on the opposite page fails to do adequate justice. 



Fortunately for the lovers of fine Orchids the plant, such 

 as Warszewicz originally described it, was rediscovered in 

 1864 by M. Arce, a zealous naturalist who was and is still 

 busily engaged in collecting birds, insects, and plants, for 



•Mr. Salvin and Mr. Skinner, throughout some of the richest 

 portions of Costa Rica. The plants which Arce sent home 



JANUABY 1ST. 1867. 



