TAB OX XY: 
EPIDENDRUM ALOTFOLIUM: 
ALOE-LEAVED* EPIDENDRUM. 
Eptpenprvm aloifolium; rhizomate repente parce folioso, caulibus brevibus monophyllis, floribus 
3-5 longe-pedicellatis ex axillo folii ovato-lanceolati crassissimi prodeuntibus sepalis petalisque conformibus 
lanceolatis acuminatis explanatis; labelli alte trilobi lobis lateralibus acinaciformibus, intermedio paulé 
longiore setaceo ; columna labello connata. 
Description, 
From a stout creeping Ruizoma proceed the short, round, slightly incrassated Srems, each 
bearing a single leaf. Leaves exceedingly fleshy, ovate-lanceolate, channelled, sharp-pointed, from 
a foot to a foot and a half or two feet long, in their wild state hanging down from the branches 
of trees. From the axil of the leaves, and protected at the base with two or three short acuminate 
Bracts, issue from three to five FLOWERS, supported on PEDICELLS of nearly five inches in length. 
SEPALS and PETALS similar in form, lanceolate, acute, spread completely open, of an olive green 
colour, about two inches long. Lrp united with the upper part of the column, deeply three-lobed, the 
lateral lobes scimitar-shaped, pure white, rather shorter than the intermediate one, which is sharp 
and bristle-shaped, and tipped with green at its extremity ; at the base of the lip appear two large 
oval glandular processes, of a yellow colour. CoLrumn white, rather club-shaped, short and thick, 
excavated at its apex, where is situate the yellow ANTHER. 
IF habit alone were to be taken as a guide, the singular plant represented on the opposite page would 
never have been placed in the genus Epidendrum, to which, nevertheless, it undoubtedly belongs. The 
only known species to which it bears even the slightest resemblance in its mode of growth is E. faleatum, 
but the leaves of the latter are less crassular, and much shorter. There is also some degree of similarity in 
the flowers of the two species; but, independently of the difference of their colours, the following distinctive 
characters may be relied upon. In E. aloifolium the pedicell is more than double the length of the sepals ; 
in E. falcatum it scarcely exceeds them. Again, in EZ. aloifoliwm the lateral and middle lobes of the lip 
are nearly equal; in EZ. falcatum the middle is twice the length of the sides. 
E. aloifolium was discovered near Xalapa by Mr. Ross, by whom it was sent to Mr. Barkrr, and 
from a plant that flowered at Springfield our drawing was made in the winter of 1839. It is a plant of 
easy culture. 
A kind of sea-weed, found with the shells figured under Odontoglossum grande, forms the Vignette. 
* Supra. Tab. X. 
