Missouri Botanical 
Garden Bulletin 
Vol. Ill St. Louis, Mo., September, 1915 No. 9 
THE BUCKET ORCHID 
One of the characteristics of the subtribe Stanhopieae of 
the orchid family is its singularly shaped flowers. These are 
so unusual and grotesque in their appearance and structure 
that there is nothing quite like them found among the great 
variety of orchids, or even in the entire plant kingdom. 
Perhaps nowhere is the curious structure of this group of 
Grete more conspicuous than in the genus Coryanthes, of 
which there are upwards of a dozen species indigenous to 
tropical America. The partially opened buds resemble a 
bat at rest and when the flower is fully opened it reveals a 
“bucket,” which holds the nectar and from which the plant 
receives its common name. Unfortunately, the flowers are 
of such short duration and the plant itself is so difficult to 
cultivate, that few have had the pleasure of seeing this floral 
curiosity. Visitors to the Garden within the next week, how- 
ever, will have the unusual opportunity of being shown a fine 
imen of the bucket orchid in is ott Two species of 
ryanthes were imported from the West Indies last year, 
one of which, Coryanthes macrantha, has produced two ex- 
cellent flower spikes. The sepals, which are most delicate 
in texture, are yellow, spotted irregularly with dull purple. 
The lip, on the contrary, is thick and fleshy and is seated on 
a deep purple stalk, nearly an inch long, forming an obtuse 
angle with the = aa _ eae in a hemi- 
spherical nish-purple cap (hypochile) and, contracting 
at its Promt ot , extends forward into a second stalk (meso- 
chile), of vivid blood color. The latter is turned back and 
conspicuously marked with four or five deep edged plaits, 
the plaited edges extending from a second cap (epichile) 
ona is yellow, streaked and spotted with crimson, and 
seems intended to catch a watery secretion which drops from 
the two succulent horns, originating from the base of the 
column. 
Dr. Criiger, formerly Director of the Botanic Garden at 
Trinidad, writes as follows of his observations of the insects 
which pollinate the flowers: 
(115) 
