14 



* HUNTLEYA Meleagris. 

 Speckled Huntley a. 



GYNANDRIA MONANDRIA. 



Nat. ord. ORCiiiDACEiE, § Vande^. 

 HUNTLEYA. Bot. Reg.fol. 1991 intextu. 



H. Meleagris ; sepalis petalisque ovatls acuminatis tessellatis, labello subcon- 

 formi unguiculato concavo crista baseos fimbriata, columnas cucullo crenato. 

 Huntleya Meleagris. Bot. Reg, I. c. 1838. misc. no. 20. 



This is at present one of the rarest of the epiphytes in 

 cultivation, the only specimen I have seen being that now 

 figured, which flowered with Messrs. Rollissons in July, 1838. 

 Its blossoms are much yellower and less tessellated with 

 purple than in the Brazilian drawing from which the species 

 was first described, and it is not improbable that it will be 

 found to vary in this respect. The whole surface of the 

 flowers had quite the appearance of being glazed. 



The following is M. Descourtilz's account of the plant, a 

 little reduced from his manuscript in M. Delessert's copy. 



Rootstock as thick as the little finger, green, cylindrical, 

 with white rootlets on the under-side. Leaves alternate, in 

 two opposite rows, forming a very much compressed fan ; 

 above they are bright green and smooth, beneath they are 

 bluish green, with paler and projecting longitudinal veins. 

 These leaves are a foot or more long, and about an inch 

 wide ; from the axil of the lowest of them rises a cylindrical 

 pale green peduncle, with two opposite bracts near the 

 middle. 



The flower is large, terminal, solitary, having five petals, 

 broad at the base, with a white claw, and a claret-coloured 

 ground on the inside, whicli is sometimes speckled with 



* So called by Mr. Bateman, in compliment to the Rev. Mr. Huntley, a 

 zealous collector of rare plants. 



