Tas. 7229. 
CIRRHOPETALUM ornatisstmum. 
Native of Assam and the Eastern Himalaya. 
Nat. Ord. OxcHIpEs. Tribe ErrpenpREz. 
Genus CrrruoretaLum, Lindl, ; (Benth. & Hook. f. Gen. Plant., vol. iii. p. 504.) 
CIRRHOPETALUM ornatissimum ; rhizomate robusto, pseudobulbis ovoideis 
tetragonis, folio elliptico-lanceolato, scapo suberecto paucifloro, bracteis 
subulato-lanceolatis, floribus magnis pallide carneis rubro-striatis, sepalo 
dorsali ovato-lanceolato basi truncato pilis rubris longe ciliato, laterali- 
bus dorsali duplo longioribus attenuato-acuminatis, petalis ovatis fasciculo 
palearum sanguinearum terminatis, labello breviter stipitato oblongo 
obtuso incrassato recurvo, columna longiuscula apicem versus utrinque 
arista porrecta decurva instructa. 
C. ornatissimum, Reichb. f. in Gard. Chron. 1882, vol. ii. p. 424; Warner 
Orchid. Album, t. 369; Hook.f. Fl. Brit. Ind. vol. v. p. 773. 
The general resemblance of this remarkable plant to 
the still more remarkable C. Colletti figured in this work 
in October of last year (Plate 7198), is obvious, notwith- 
standing the marked difference in their pseudobulbs and 
mode of growth; the pseudobulbs in this organ being in 
ornatissimum ovate and four-sided, in Colletti subglobose 
and deeply four lobed; and the scape in this being erect 
and arising from the side of the pseudobulb as usual in 
the genus, but in Collettii it is pendulous and arises 
from the young growths before the new pseudobulbs are 
developed. Other differences are to be found in the longer 
leaves of C. ornatissimum, the truncate base of the dorsal 
sepal, which is not tipped with a bunch of palew; in the 
shorter lateral sepals, and especially in the much less 
highly developed palew of the petals, in the scabrid ridges 
of the lip, and in the bristle-like appendages at the tip of 
the column not being strongly decurved. 
C. ornatissimum was first described from specimens 
stated to have been received from Assam, the reputed 
native country of the specimen here figured; but as, ac- 
cording to a figure in the collection of drawings belonging 
to the Botanical Gardens of Calcutta, it is a native of 
Apri lst, 1892. 
