received by Mr. Barker in the early part of 1837, and flowered with him in the course of the following 
summer; and as it proved to be undescribed, we at once gave it the name of its fortunate possessor, than 
whom Botany has not a more zealous or liberal friend. 
Four species of this stately genus have now found their way into European collections,* of which number 
two (P. pendula and P.cerina) are natives of British Guiana, another (P.e/ata) inhabits the Isthmus of 
Panama, and so comes within the scope of our work, while the fourth (P. Barkeri) was found, as we have 
already stated, in the neighbourhood of Xalapa in New Spain. P. cerina is, perhaps, the most nearly allied 
to the subject of this article, but differs from it in having the middle lobe of its labellum fringed instead of 
entire, and also in its short densely flowered racemes, which are not one-fourth so long as those of Peristeria 
Barkeri, on which also the flowers are very loosely scattered. 
All the species of Peristeria are of easy cultivation and flower freely. ‘lo grow them, however, to perfection, 
a powerful heat, plenty of water, and abundance of pot-room are indispensable ; indeed, unless the latter 
circumstance be especially attended to, the shoots will every year grow weaker and weaker until at last they 
have become so feeble as to be quite incapable of throwing up a flower-scape. Being of a sub-terrestrial 
nature, it will not be necessary to mix so large a proportion of broken potsherds with the lumps of fibrous 
peat in which they are to be planted, as is usual and advisable for the majority of the true epiphytes. Sup- 
posing the plants to have entirely filled with their roots the largest pots which can be procured, it will be 
necessary to replant, after having previously divided them; a cruel alternative certainly, but preferable to 
witnessing their gradual decline ; and, happjly, such sacrifices are not often required, as most of the plants of 
this order, when once established in a pot of moderate dimensions, may be permitted to remain unmolested 
for a great number of years. 
Peristeria elata, on which Sir W. Hooker founded the genus, is, in point of habit, the most striking 
Orchidaceous plant yet in our collections, where it stands without a rival in the huge size of its leaves and 
pseudo-bulbs: its flower, also, is celebrated for the strong resemblance it bears to a dove, which, in the super- 
stitious atmosphere of its native wilds, has procured for it the appellation of “el Spirito Santo,” and likewise 
of course no small share of veneration. The art however of producing doves, not having been inherited by 
any other member of the family, we have ventured, in our Vignette, to copy a flower of the original species 
from the admirable figure of it in the Botanical Magazine ; to which we would beg to refer our readers, as the 
wood-cut underneath, being necessarily uncoloured, scarcely does justice to the charms of the plant or bird, 
as the case may be. ‘ 
* As an encouragement to those who go out in search of Tropical Orchidacez, it may be well to mention that not one of these extraordinary 
plants was known to science at the moment of its introduction. 
