Tas. 8386. 
CYPRIPEDIUM speciosum. 
Japan. 
ORCHIDACEAE, ‘Tribe CyYPRIPEDIEAE. 
CypripepDium, Linn.; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. Plant, vol. iii. p. 684. Cypripedilum, 
Pitzer in Engl. Pflanzenreich, Orch. Pleon. p. 28. 
Cypripedium speciosum, Rolfe in Kew Bulletin, 1911, p. 207; species a 
oe. Swartz, floribus pallidis roseo-striatis et staminodio acutiore 
iffert. 
Herba 20-40 cm. alta. Caules erecti, crassiusculi, pubescentes, foliosi. Folia 
sessilia, ovato-oblonga vel elliptico-oblonga, acuta vel breviter acuminata, 
ciliolata, breviter pubescentia, 7-10 cm. longa, 2-5 cm. lata, plicata. 
Bracteae foliosae, magnae, ovatae, acutae. Flores speciosi, albiduli vel 
pallide carnei, roseo-venosi. Sepalum posticum ovatum, acutum vel 
breviter acuminatum, 3-4°5 em. longum; sepalum inferum ovatum, apice 
breviter bifidum, 2°5-3:°5 em. longum. etala falcato-oblonga, acuta, 
4-4°5 cm. longa, 1°5-1-8 em. lata. Labe/lwm subglobosum vel ovoideo- 
globosum, 3-4 cm. longum; ore semicirculari marginato; lobi laterales 
obtusanguli. Staminodium ovato-hastatum, acutum, 1 cm. longum.— 
C. macranthum, So mokou Zusetsu, vol. xviii. t. 83; nec Swartz. C. ma- 
cranthum, var. 8. ventricosum, Franch. et Sav. Enum. Pl. Jap. vol. i. (1879), 
p. 40, excl. syn.; Matsumura, Nomencl. Jap. Pl. p. 63; nec Reichb. f. 
C. Thunbergii, Matsumura, Index PI. Jap. vol. ii. (1905), p. 242, pro parte ; 
Rolfe in Orch. Rev. vol. xvi. p. 186; nec Blume.—Honzo Zufu, vol. xxxix. 
t. 18 (recto).—R. A. Rours. 
The figure of the striking Cypripedium given in our 
plate has been prepared from a plant sent to Kew for 
identification by the establishment of Bees, Limited, with 
whom it flowered in June, 1910. The species is one with 
a somewhat interesting history. It has been in cultivation 
in this country for a number of years and, at all events at 
the time of its introduction as well as for some time there- 
after, was accepted as being C. macranthum, no doubt owing 
to the fact that the figure of the plant in the Japanese work 
So mokou Zusetsu bears this name. It is, however, quite 
distinct from the original C. macranthum, Swartz, figured 
at t. 2938 of this magazine, which has flowers of a uniform 
deep rose-purple shade. Franchet and Savatier, fully 
realising this, have thought it to be the same as C. macran- 
thum, var. ventricosum. But it is equally distinct from the 
plant so named by the younger Reichenbach, and Professor 
Matsumura on discovering this fact has concluded that it 
Juiy, 1911. 
