Tas. 5759. 
VANDA INSIGNIS. 
Noble Vanda. 
Nat. Ord. Orncurpr#.—GynaNnpriA MoNnANDRIA. 
Gen. Char. (Vide supra, Tan. 5174.) 
Vanna insignis ; foliis rigidis canaliculatis apice inequali-abscissis v. den- 
tatis, racemis folium wquantibus laxis 5-7-floris, perianthii foliolis 
patentibus obovato-spathulatis rectiusculis, labelli basi 2-carinati 
lobis lateralibus parvis adscendentibus obtusis, intermedio arrecto 
apice repente dilatato-rotundato undulato ad basin subhastatam 
utrinque calloso, caleari compresso conico obtuso recurvo. 
Vanpa insignis. Blwme, Rumphia, v. 4. p. 49, t. 192. f. 2 e& 197 A. 
Lindl. in Paxt. Fl. Gard. v. 2. p. 19, ewm ic. aylog. Folia Orchidacea, 
Vanda, No.7. Reichb. in Gard. Chron. 1868, p. 1259. 
* 
The magnificent Orchid here figured is one of the most 
interesting importations of late years. It settles a long ob- 
scure point in the garden nomenclature of this noble genus, 
proving that the plant which has hitherto usually borne the 
name of V. insignis is not the plant of Blume, but, as was 
often suspected, a form of V. tricolor; and that Blume’s plant 
is not only a perfectly distinct species, but as fine a one as 
any in the genus, V. Cathcartii, perhaps, alone excepted. 
The V. insignis is a native of the Moluccas; it was sent to 
Messrs. Veitch by their late lamented collector Mr. Hutton, 
and flowered at their establishment in the King’s Road in 
October 1868. Blume gives the mountains of the island of 
Timor as its native country. It is probably as rare as it is a 
little-known species; for I do not find it included in the 
rich (1866) catalogue of the plants cultivated in the Royal 
Botanic Gardens of Buitenzorg, in Java, where upwards of 
500 Orchids, chiefly Malayan, are enumerated. 
Descr. Stem suberect, as thick as the finger, leafy. Leaves 
equidistant, ten inches long, one to one and a quarter broad, 
MARCH Ist, 1869. 
