Tab. 4142 

 PLEUROTHALLIS bicarinata. 



Double-keeled Pleurothallis. 



Nat. Ord. Orchide.e. — Gynandria Monandria. 

 PLEUROTHALLIS. (Vide supra Tab. 3897.) 



Pleurothallis bicarinata; " folio oblongo coriaceo planiusculo leviter 

 carinato basi subcordato petiolo acute canaliculato univaginato brevi- 

 ore, sepalis linearibus squalibus lateralibus carinatis ad apicem fere 

 connatis, sepalis lineari-obovatis minute serratis glabris, labello obovato 

 camoso medio exarato denticulo inflexo utrinque prope basin." Lindl. 



Pleurothallis bicarinata. Lindl. in Bot. Reg. 1839, Misc. p. 14. 

 n. 11. 



South America, but especially the Western side of the Cor- 

 dillera, and the mountains of Peru and Columbia, abound in 

 species of the curious Genus Pleurothallis. The present, 

 however, is a native of Brazil, and has thence been received 

 by Mr. Loddiges ; and Mr. Gardner sent living plants of it 

 from Rio to Woburn, which have through that source reached 

 the Royal Gardens of Kew, where they produced their orange- 

 colored flowers from the bosom of the solitary, elliptical leaf, 

 in December, 1843. The species is well named by Dr. Lind- 

 ley from the sharp keel on each of the lateral sepals. 



Descr. Plants aggregated, throwing out fibrous roots from 

 the base. Stems two to four or five inches long, jointed, 

 angled, slightly tuberous at the base, clothed at the joints with 

 sheathing scales, the lowest short, rich chocolate, broad, spot- 

 ted, approximate, the upper ones more distant, elongated, pale 

 yellow, with numerous dark-red spots. Each stem, or petiole 

 as Dr. Lindley considers it, is' terminated by a coriaceous, 

 elliptical leaf, blunt at the apex, a little cordate at the base, 

 faintly striated on the surface. From the base of this leaf, and, 

 as it were, from a hollow or depression, the peduncle arises, 

 bracteated and bearing a spike of orange-red flowers, spirally 

 arranged, nearly as long as the leaf. Sepals oblong, acute, 

 gaping, the upper sepal rather the smallest, free, the two 



