Tap, 5966, 
RESTREPIA ELEGANS. 
Native of Caraccas. 
Nat. Ord, Orcuipacra.—Tribe, MaLaxipem § PLEUROTHALLER. 
Genus, Restrepra, Kunth ; (Lindl. Fol. Orchid., Restrepia). 
Restrepra elegans ; caulibus cespitosis vaginis amplis imbricatis compressis 
albis scariosis tectis, folio sessili late elliptico coriaceo apiculato, pedun- 
culis axillaribus solitariis v. binis filiformibus folium eequantibus v. 
superantibus, sepalo dorsali lanceolato in caudam elongatam apice cla- 
vellatam producto albo purpureo-lineato, lateralibus in laminam amplam 
oblongam apice emarginatam concavam flavam purpureo punctatam con- 
natis, petalis minutis sepalo dorsali consimilibus, labello parvo panduri- 
formi emarginato ultra medium eroso basi utrinque appendicula setacea 
aucto. 
Resrrerta elegans, Karst. Auswahl neuer und Gewdchse Venezuelas, p. 8, 
t. 2; Lindl. Fol. Orchid., Restrepia, p. 2. 
A lovely little Orchid, closely allied to, and indeed the Vene- 
zuelan representative of the Andean 2. antennifera, a plant 
which was long regarded as the only species of the genus, and 
known only from the plate in Humboldt’s and Bonpland’s 
“Nova Genera et Species” (vol. i. p. 293, t. 94) and which 
has been cultivated by M. Linden, of Brussels, but not, as far 
as I am aware, in this country (see Reichb. f. in Gard. 
Chron., 1869). ; 
Since that period a considerable number of species have 
been discovered and described, most of them presenting the 
curious antenna-like form of dorsal sepal and petals, and 
all inhabiting the mountains of Venezuela and the Andes, 
from Guatemala to New Granada. : 
R. elegans inhabits mossy tree trunks at elevations of 
5-6000 feet in the province of Caraccas, whence there are 
ied specimens in the Hookerian Herbarium, collected 
near the colony of Tovar, by Fendler. I am indebted to 
Messrs. Veitch for the specimen here figured, which flowered 
m February last. : 
MAY Ist, 1872, 
