68 



* COMPARETTIA coccinea. 



Scarlet Comparettia. 



GYNANDRIA MONANDRIA. 



Nat. ord. Orchidace^, § Vande^:. 



COMPARETTIA. P'vppig et Endlieher. Perianthinm ringens. Se- 

 palum intermedium et petala nana, libera, subgaleata ; lateralia in unum con- 

 nata calcaratum labello suppositum. Labellum liberum, explanatum, obcorda- 

 tum, unguiculatum, basi calcaribus duobus intra sepalorum calcar absconditis. 

 Columna libera, erecta, mutica. Pollinia 2, postice, foveata, caudiculae cuneatse 

 rostratee adnata. Herbs epiphytal, pseudobulbosai, racemis Jerminalibus. 



C. coccinea ; foliis angustis coriaceis apice obliquis acutis, sepalo antico acuto 

 calcare falcato duplo breviore, labello obcordato subrepando basi bilamel- 

 lato calcaribus subulatis ciliatis, columna medio sub stimnate elevata. 



This beautiful and very rare epiphyte flowered with 

 Messrs. Loddiges in August last, and is said to be a native 

 of Brazil; it however agrees so entirely with dried specimens 

 collected near Xalapa, and now before me, that some mistake 

 is to be suspected in its reputed country. 



The scarlet of its lip is very brilliant, its flowers are 

 arranged gracefully, and they have a most curious structure. 

 Nothing is more common for Qrchidacese than to produce 

 spurs from their sepals, and labellum, but it is very unusual 

 for the same organ to produce two spurs. Satyrium and 

 Diplocentron were almost the only cases of this structure. 

 Here, however, the labellum not only has two spurs, but they 

 are hidden within the spur of the united pair of lateral 

 sepals, so that they are not discovered till the latter is cut 



* Named after Andreas Comparetti, Professor at Padua, who first under- 

 stood the real nature of spiral vessels, and who wrote with great skill upon 

 Vegetable Physiology. P'oppig and Endlieher. 



December, 1838. 2 b 



