Tas. 7780. 
CALANTHE mapacascariensis. 
Native of Madagascar. 
Nat. Ord. OxcupEx.—Tribe EPIDENDRE, 
Genus CatantuE, Br. ; (Benth. & Hook. f. Gen. Plant. vol. iii. p. 520.) 
Catantue (Veratrifolia) madagascariensis; foliis paucis ad basin caulis con- 
fertis sessilibus v. petiolatis ellipticis v. ovato-oblongis acuminatis 
marginibus undulatis inter-nervos profunde impressos sublacunosis, 
edunculo 6-12 poll. longo erecto robusto puberulo vaginis paucis laxis 
instructo, racemo brevi erecto laxe multifloro, bracteis lanceolatis acutis 
pedicellis paullo brevioribus viridibus, floribus 1-1} poll. latis, sepalis 
petalisque patentibus concoloribus albis margines versus purpureo suffusis, 
sepalis ellipticis acutis apicibus dorso viridibus, petalis paullo minoribus 
subacutis, labello sepalis paullo breviore plano trilobo ad 34 poll. longo et 
lato aureo lilacino v. purpureo 3-lobo, lobis lateralibus divaricatis oblongis 
v. lineari-oblongis apice rotundatis terminali late obsordato lobulis 
divaricatis, disco basi aureo tuberculis 2 majusculis veruccisque minoribus 
aucto, calcare gracili incurvo. 
C. madagascariensis, Rolfe mss. 
C. sylvatica, Rolfe in Journ. Linn. Soc. vol. xxix. (1891) p. 52, non Lindl. 
_ Calanthe madagascariensis is a near ally of C. veratrifolia, 
Br. (tab. 2615) a species of very wide distribution, from 
North and South India to Japan and Australia. It differs 
from that plant in size, in the undulate leaves, in the much 
broader sepals and petals, and in the more verrucose disk 
of the lip with two large tubercles. The flowers vary 
much in colour; a prevalent variety has white sepals and 
petals, clouded with pink, and a rose-purple lip; others 
have pure white sepals and petals and a yellow lip. 
Mr. Warpur, a Belgian collector, was the introducer 
into Europe of C. madagascariensis. The Royal Gardens, 
Kew, are indebted to him for the specimen here figured, 
which flowered in a warm house in August, 1890. There 
are others in the Kew Herbarium from the East Betsileo 
district, collected by the Rev. R. Baron, and from Fort 
Dauphin by Mr. Scott Elliot, M.A., F.L.S. 
Descr.—Pseudobulbs small, clustered, cylindric, annulate. 
Leaves few, crowded, all radical, spreading and recurved, 
three to five inches long, sessile or shortly petioled, 
elliptic or oblong-ovate, acuminate; margins undulate; 
June Ist, 1901 
