Tas. 6205. 
CALATHEA LEUCOSTACHYS. 
Native of Costa Rica. 
Nat. Ord. CANNACEA. 
Genus CaLaTuea, Meyer; (Endl., Gen.-Plant., p. 227). 
CALATHEA leucostachys; tenuiter molliter villosa, caule robusto, foliis elliptico- 
oblongis utrinque rotundatis apice apiculatis sessilibus v. breviter et crasse 
petiolatis supra viridibus subtus costa excepta glabris sanguineo-pur- 
pureis, pedunculo brevi robusto, spica 3-5-pollicari, bracteis longe villosis 
subacute imbricatis tubo campanulato stramineo, lamina dilatata ampla 
recurva latiore quam longa, floribus inclusis albis brevissime pedicellatis, 
sepalis lineari-oblongis acutis pilosis tubum corollz squantibus, corolle 
limbi segmentis subzequalibus oblongis subacutis valde concavis, labello 
petalis consimili, staminodiis petaloideis marginibus crispatis inflexis, anthera 
parva mucronata. 
This is another fine Central American species of Calathea 
introduced by Messrs. Veitch, to whom also is due the credit 
of introducing the C. tubispatha (Tab. nost. 5542) and C@. 
Veitchiana (Tab. 5535). As a species the present comes 
nearest the C. Warzewiczii, Klotzsch, (Regel Gartenflora, 
1866, t. 575), especially in the form and colour of the spike, 
bracts, and flowers, but differs wholly in habit, in being much 
more villous, and in the sessile or subsessile broader leaves. 
The cultivated species of Calathea are now very nu- 
merous, and from their perenenial and _highly-coloured 
foliage are deservedly most desirable plants for moist stove 
cultivation. As many as thirty-four species, exclusive of 
varieties, are enumerated in the “ Supplementum ad indicem 
Seminum Ann. 1868, Hort. Bot. Imp. Petrop,” as being 
under cultivation in European gardens, and judging from the 
extent of the genus in our herbarium, many more are yet 
to be introduced. / 
Calathea leucostachys flowered in Mr. Veitch’s establish- 
ment at Chelsea in October, 1874, from plants sent from 
Costa Rica by Mr. Endres. 
Descr. Whole plant more or less villous, except the 
under-surface of the leaf, of which the midrib only is so; 
DeceMBeER Ist, 1875. 
