55 



CALANTHE di'scJlor, 

 Discoloured Fairbloom. 



GYNANDRIA MONANDRIA. 

 Nat. ord. Orchidace^, § Vande.e. 



CALANTHE. Botanical Register, vol. \'\i. fol. 5/1. 



C. discolor ; racemo laxo pubescente, sepalis petalisque acutis, labelli trilobi 

 columnse omnino accreti basi piibescentis bilamellati lobo intermedio 

 bilobo 3-carinato, calcare pubescente acuto limbo breviore. Sertum Or- 

 chidaceam, sub, t. 9. Bot. Reg. misc. 1838. no. 32. 



Folia oblonga, venis tribus majoribus, cceterisque minoribus interjectis, 

 scapo elongato racemose multijloro breviora. 8caTpiis jjahnaris ad sesquipeda- 

 tern Jloribus 8-20. Sepala et petala vinoso -purpurea ; labellum album sub- 

 roseum. 



This very pretty species was first communicated to me by 

 M. Auguste Mechelinck of Ghent, who had flowered it and 

 C. bicolor. It was subsequently sent to this country, and has 

 now blossomed in several places ; no where however with more 

 beauty than with Mr. Bateman, whose specimen was a foot and 

 half high. Its rich wine-red sepals and petals form so good 

 a back-ground for the white lip, which they so much relieve, 

 that this species is to be regarded as one of the handsomer 

 species of the genus, and is certainly much more worth culti- 

 vating than C. veratrifolia, fjircata, or densijlora, wliich have 

 whole-coloured blossoms. 



I am unacquainted with the native country of this spe- 

 cies ; but as it comes to us through the Dutch, it is probably 

 either Japan or Java, and most likely the former country. 



In general the species of the genus Calanthe require to 

 be cultivated in the stove or orchidaceous house. It consists 

 of plants which appear to derive a considerable quantity of 

 nourishment from the soil in which they grow ; and the spe- 

 cies should therefore be planted in pots in preference to being 



October, 1840. u 



