BRASAVOLA Martiana. 

 Dr. Von Martins' Brasavola. 



GYNANDRIA MOT<!ANDRIA. 



Nat. ord. Orchidace^, § Epidkndre^, 

 BRASAVOLA. Bot. Register, fol. 1465. 



B. Martiana ; labello ovali faut ovato) acuminato ciliato-dentato sessili ; petalis 

 sepalisque lineari-lanceolatis acuminatis longioribus, clinandrio cucullato 

 inciso. Bot. Reg. fol. 1914. in textu. 



Folia longa, teretia, suprd sulcis tribus exarata, racemo subcorTjmboso 

 diiplb longiora. Pedunculi Iceves, terefes, sepalis longiores, pone basin fusco- 

 purpureo tincta. Sepala et petala lineari-lanceolata, subcsqualia, patula. 

 Labellum ovatuvi aut ovale, acuminatum, Jimbr latum, basi luteum ; iingue 

 brevi columnce appresso. Columna apice cucuUata, injiexa, Jimbriata. 



This very distinct species of a small but interesting genus, 

 imported from Berbice by Messrs. Loddiges, was originally 

 discovered by Dr. Von Martius on the banks of the Rio 

 Negro in Brazil, and it was from dried specimens in his her- 

 barium that I first described it. 



B. cucullata and B. amazonica are the only other species 

 yet known with a fringed labellum ; the former has much 

 larger flowers, and a lip of an entirely different form ; the 

 latter has a one-sided raceme, and a labellum contracted in 

 the middle so as to be distinctly divided into a hypochilium 

 and epichilium. 



All the Brasavolas yet described by Botanists now exist 

 in this country, with the exception of B. subulifolia, a fine 

 species inhabiting Nevis, with very slender subulate leaves, 

 and the B. amazonica above named. The former might 

 easily be procured ; the latter is beyond the reach of ordi- 

 nary travellers, occupying the branches of trees surrounding 

 lake " Egen," one of the offsprings of the Amazons. 



January, 1839. c 



