10 



habit of E. nutans, from the garden of Mr. Brocklehurst, 

 where nothing is recorded of its origin. Mr. Bateman, who 

 sent it to me, states that it has a large branching panicle. 

 The sweet-scented flowers are a dull yellowish green, bordered 

 with dull purple ; the lip is more yellow than th^ sepals. It 

 is a plant of more beauty than E. nutans. 



MAXILLARIA. 



The original genus of this name was so loosely defined 

 that it was understood to comprehend all Orchidaceous plants 

 whose floral envelopes are so arranged that they have a 

 ringent appearance, and a decided extension in front in the 

 form of a chin. I have no intention of discussing in this 

 place the history of the genus, the additions made to it, or 

 the limits of the new genera already formed in its vicinity ; 

 but I shall confine myself to the condition in which it was 

 left upon the publication of the " Genera and Species of 

 Orchidaceous Plants" in the year 1833. At that time the 

 number of species, known or guessed at, was inconsiderable; 

 and consisted of plants extremely different in appearance, as 

 well as structure, but connected by the common character of 

 a pair of simple or two-lobed pollen-masses, having a distinct 

 gland with a single caudicula, and belonging to a flower 

 whose lateral sepals, oblique at their base, were adherent to 

 the lengthened foot of the column. In fact, Maxillaria, 

 among Vandea), answered in many respects to Dendrobium 

 among Malaxea?. 



But experience has shewn that such a character as this 

 brings into association plants of very difi^erent appearance, 

 that it includes many other characters, of as much importance 

 as itself, and brings together a group of species inconveni- 

 ently large for systematical purposes. Such being the case it 

 has now become desirable to reconsider the distinctive marks 

 of Maxillaria, to see how far they are capable of sub-division, 

 and to endeavour to circumscribe Maxillaria proper within 

 more definite limits than were assigned to it in 1833. 



The true Maxillarias, that is to say those intended by the 

 authors of the Flora Peruviana, who founded the genus, are 

 evidently the species with radical inflorescence, and a pseudo- 

 bulbous growth, such as M. picta, punctata, squalens^ and the 

 like ; they form a tolerably natural group, and have, in all 



