Tab. 6351. 

 PTEEOSTYLIS baptistii. 



Native of New South Wales. 



Nat. Ord. Orchide.e. — Tribe Neottie*:. 

 Genus Pterostylis, Br. {Be nth. Flor. Austral, vol. vi. p. 352.) 



Pterostyi.is Baptistii; foliis radicalibus subrosulatis lanceolatis acuminata 

 supra nitidis infimis petiolatis, caulinis in vaginas spathaceas caudato- 

 acuminatas sensira desinentibus, scapo unifloro, flore magno erecto, galea 

 oblonga lente curva virescente apicibus foliolorum acuminatis fusco-purpura- 

 scentibus. sepalis lateralibus basi in laminamlate cuneatam erectam convexam 

 connatis, lobis late ovatis in caudas elongatas filiformes galeam amplectentes 

 attenuatis, labello lineari medio carinato apice repente angustato appendice 

 basilari penicillato. 



P. Baptistii, Fitzgerald, Austral. Orchid, part 1, with a plate. 



The terrestrial Orchids of Australia, though celebrated both 

 for their beauty and singularity, have rarely been flowered in 

 this country, and more rarely kept after flowering. Amongst 

 those who have achieved success in the culture of one kind 

 at least is Mr. Williams, of the Victoria and Paradise 

 Nurseries, who, in January last, flowered a large stock of the 

 very remarkable species here described. It is the sixth of 

 the genus that has been figured in this work, the others 

 being, P. nutans, tab. 3085, P. curia, tab. 3086, P. Banksii, 

 tab. 3172, P. concinna, tab. 3400, and P. acuminata, tab. 3401. 

 These all flowered at Kew, but none were kept long in culti- 

 vation, though to have kept them ought not to have been 

 difficult, for I have myself seen a pan full of one of them at 

 Herrenhausen, which Mr. Wendland told me he had had for 

 years, and that when simply let alone they flowered annually. 

 Cultivators may take a hint from the notes on the genus in 

 Mr. Fitzgerald's splendid folio work on Australian Orchids, 

 where, under the genus, he states that these Orchids are 

 usually found in groups ; "the grouping being accounted for 

 by their forming frequently bulbs on the leading roots, m 

 addition to the annual bulb formed near the plant to replace 

 the bulb of the year. In proportion as this habit is frequent 



MARCH 1st, 1878. 



