1841 



CORYANTHES macrantha. 



Large-flowered Coryanthes. 



Nat. ord. OncHiDACEiE, § Yandex, 

 CORYANTHES.— Supra, vol. 2\. t. 1793. 



C. macrantha; foliis angusto-lanceolatis, pseudo-bulbis ovato-conlcis alte 



sulcatis, labello utrinque quater plicato : plicis deflexis. 

 Gongora macrantha. Hooker Bat. Misc. 2. p. 151. t. SO. 

 Coryanthes macrantha. Hooker in Bat. Mag.fol. 3102 in textu. Gen. 8f Sp. 



of Orchideous PI. 159. 



Accustomed as we are now become to strange forms among 

 Orchideous plants, I doubt whether any species.has yet been 

 seen more remarkable for its unusual characters than that 

 now represented. 



It was first figured by Dr. Hooker in the Botanical Mis- 

 cellany, from a specimen in spirits sent him from the Caraccas 

 by Mr. Lockhart. When the plant blossomed in Trinidad, 

 the flowers appeared so extraordinary to those who saw them 

 that the visitors to the Botanic Garden supposed them to be 

 artificial. It has, however, lately flowered in the collection 

 of Mr. Knight in the King's Road; and it proves to be in all 

 respects the same as the specimen sent to Dr. Hooker. 



The plant has the habit of a Stanhopea, or a Gongora ; 

 and pushes forth from the base of its pseudo-bulbs a pendulous 

 scape, on which two or three flowers are developed. Each 

 flower is placed at the end of a long stiff" cylindrical furrowed 

 ovary, and when expanded, measures something more than 

 6 inches from the tip of one sepal to that of the opposite one. 

 In colour the sepals are an ochrey yellow, spotted irregularly 

 with dull purple; they have a most delicate texture; the upper 

 sepal falls back from the tip of the ovary, is narrow and not 

 above one half the length of the two lateral ones, which, instead 



