A native of Trinidad, whence it was introduced by the 

 late Mr. Salis])nry in the year 178G. It requires the heat 

 of a very good stove, and is cultivated in a mixture of peat, 

 sand, and loam. 



It has been generally supposed that this is a species 

 distinct from B. florida, a plant which no cultivator has 

 been able, for many years, to satisfy himself that he pos- 

 sessed. For ourselves, we at one time were disposed to 

 believe that B. florida was either a slight variety of Bletia 

 verecunda, or absolutely the same plant ; a supposition to 

 which we were led by the account given of it in the last 

 edition of the Hortiis Keivcnsis. The diagnosis of it in 

 that work is made to depend upon the cuneate form of the 

 middle lobe of the labellum, its ridges being simple (not 

 branched), and its lateral segments broadest (not narrowest) 

 at the point; to which is added, as a character which it 

 possesses in common with B. verecunda, a somewhat 

 branched scape ; Limodorum purpureum of Redout^'s Li- 

 liactcs is quoted as a synonym ; and finally, the English 

 name is Purple Bletia. But this latter name is perfectly 

 applicable to B. verecunda ; the plant figured by Redoute 

 is unquestionably that species ; and the ridges of the label- 

 lum are often perfectly simple in the same ; so that of the 

 characters and synonyms of B. florida, nothing is left to 

 distinguish it except the form of the middle lobe of the 

 labellum, and a not very intelligible difference in that of 

 its lateral 'lobes. The character, however, in the Hortus 

 Kcweusis being very precisely worded, and the plant itself 

 not belonging to a tribe that is difficult of cultivation, and 

 therefore not likely to be lost, it appeared to us more pro- 

 bable that some inaccuracy should exist in the Hortus 

 Kewensis, than that the species should no longer be found 

 in any of the great collections near London. In renewing 

 the search for it, we have found nothing to which it is 

 probable that the name ought to be attached, except the 

 plant now represented, the B. pallida of Mr. Loddiges ; 

 and, after much consideration, we have come to the conclu- 

 sion, that, notwithstanding certain differences that exist 

 between this and the account in the Hortus Kewensis, they 

 are really the same species. It is true, that the scape of 

 B. pallida is, as far as we have ever seen, unbranched, 

 that the name purple is inapplicable to it, and that the 



