Tab. 5840. 

 MORMODES Colossus. 



Large-flowered Mormodes. 



Nat. Ord. Orghide^:. — Gynandria Monandria. 

 Gen. Char. (Vide supra, Tab. 5802.) 



Mormodes Colossus; pseudo-bulbo elongato vaginato, pedunculo inclinato 

 robusto pedali, racemo aequilongo laxe 6-10-floro, sepalis petalisque 

 consimilibus lanceolatis acuminatis marginibus recurvis roseis apicibus 

 longe fiavis, labello subsigmoideo incurvo breviter unguiculato sub- 

 rhombeo-ovato longe acuminata flavo basin et apicem versus punctis 

 roseis consperso, marginibus revolutis, columna oblique incurva, anthera 

 ovata cuspidata. 



Mormodes Colossus, Reichb. f. in Bot. Zeit., 1852, p. 636. Walp. Ann. 

 v. vi. p. 581. 



M. macranthum, Lindl. in Paxt. Mag. v. iii. sub tab. 93. 



The genus Mormodes presents some of the most abnormal 

 forms of flower that are to be found in the vegetable 

 kingdom, and very little indeed is understood of their nature 

 and functions. Some are, as Darwin has shown, sexual forms 

 of widely different looking Orchids, and others are so variable 

 that it is impossible to characterize them specifically. Under 

 such circumstances nothing remains but to watch their 

 growth, figure all the forms that appear, and wait for evidence 

 as to their true position amongst the genera ( Catasetum, Gon- 

 gora, Monacanthus, and Cgcnoches) with which they have the 

 greatest affinity. 



The subject of the present plate was published almost 

 simultaneously by Keichenbach fil. and Lindley. It is a 

 native of the mountains of Central America, at elevations of 

 about 7000 feet, and was introduced by Warscewicz in about 

 IB 50 ; the specimen here figured flowered in Mr. Veitch's 

 nursery in March of the present year. 

 june 1st, 1870. 



