1~6 BCRMA, ITS PEOPLE AXD PRODUCTIOXS. 



This is an accurate descnption of my plant, ■whi( h was pronounced raany years ago 

 to be Airides Wt(j]dianum. It answers also adinirably for lliat of Vanda cariilesccns 

 far. BoxiiUii, Hot. 2Iag. 6328, from which, indeed, it is almost wholly taken. The 

 differences, such as they are, are the followins : — The leaves of the latter plant are 

 shorter, but to this I attach no importance whatever; (my drawing happened to be 

 that of an individual with longer leaves, that is all,) and the ridges of the labelhim, 

 described as " smooth " in V. ccsndencenn, are in my plant pitnphj. Beyond this 

 trifling discrepancy, what remains is entirely a difference of colour and size. My 

 flowers are rather smaller and, the lip excepted, pure white. The ridges of the lip 

 are rose-pink, and there is a faint tinge of yellow at the base of the column inside, 

 whereas the flowers of V. caruleuem {Hot. Mag. 63'28) are faintly tinged with violet, 

 and the lip is a deep blue. The general habit of the two plants, a matter more for 

 the eye and the pencil than the pen, is identical. Indeed, my plant more nearly 

 resembles V. cceruleKcem, var. BoxalUi, than it does Aerides Witjldianum, Bot. Mog. 

 5138, the leaves of which are more curved and less rigid. The verbal description 

 will suit this plant also, but the colour is very different, yellow, with puiple ridges 

 to the lip. Leaving, then, this last or yellow variety, out of the question (as it is 

 a Madras plant}, it seems to me that in V. carulescem, var. Boxall i i {^'Inch might with 

 almost greater propriety be called V. parviflora), we have the first .step in advance 

 from my simple white variety, upwards towards "The blue Yanda," V. crerulea. 

 The next step is made by V. canileficens as figured in Bot. Mag. 5834, called "The 

 pale blue Tauda." Here, the form of the flowers remaining very nearly the same, 

 their size is again enlarged, and the general colour more nearly approaches to blue. 

 (I follow the dcscnption, and not the plate, which is certainly pink and not blue.) 

 The two ridges of the lip are here, and the form of the lip is like that of rar. Bo.rallii, 

 except that the terminal lobes are rather more pronounced and the intermediate notch 

 more distinct. The other differences are, that the leaves are rather broader, the spur 

 is slightly incurved, and the raceme is drooping instead of erect. A farther advance 

 in size and eoLair is made in another variety of V. candescetm, figured in the new 

 series of " The Floral Magazine." Here the flowers are once more considerably 

 larger, and the general colour of a deep violet. The very same two ridges remain on 

 the lip, but the bilobed apex with the intervening notch is yet farther developed. 

 The breadth of the leaves has slightly increased, the spur is slightly more incurved, 

 and the raceme, as in the preceding variety, is pendulous. But one step more, and 

 that not a great one, and we arrive at " T/ie blue Vanda.'" In all the stages, coloiir 

 and size have been the distinguishing characteristics rather than structure. Possibly, 

 yet other and intermediate varieties remain to be discovered. There is a gradual 

 development upwards, and it is difficult to draw the line for species ; but if I were 

 asked to draw it between the varieties described, I would do so ahore F. caruhscms 

 var. Iio.TaUii and lelow V. cctruJescenn, Bot. Mag. 5834, calling the former Viinda 

 parrifnra, var. Bo.rallii ; for it certainly has more affinity of habit with my Aerides 



Wightianum (which we have said is a synonym for Y. panifora) than with the other 

 vars. of V. carulescciis. There is (and this is the point to which I would specially 

 advert) a greater difference in habit and in form, to say nothing of colour, between 



Va7ida mrvlexcenn, var. BoxaUii, and the extreme blue variety figured in the Floral 

 Magazine, than there is between the several Vandas of the Boxhurghii group ; yet 

 these last have received distinct specific names, while the first is counted but a variety. 



V. TERES. 



This species differs widely from all the foregoing. Its leaves are terete, or 

 quill-shaped, distant, few, alternate, 6-8 inches long. The racemes, which are few- 

 flowered, are opposite to a leaf, 6-12 inches long. The flowers are very large and 

 handsome, of a prevailing rose colour, quite 4 inches across, with a large conical 

 spur. Lip 3-lobcd, lateral lobes forming a tube round the column, middle lobe 

 broad and fan-shaped, bifid. The stem, which is single or branched, and of a diy 

 woody nature, though only about i of an inch in diameter, often attains a great 

 length, ascending to the tops of trees, from among the highest branches of which 

 it loves to thi-ust its handsome blossoms into the full blaze of the sun. The roots 



