590 ORCHID- geower's manual. 



closely marked with transverse bars of cinnamon brown ; and 

 a curiously-shaped lip, which has dolabriform basal auricles 

 and a trifid blade, with the side lobes triangular and spreading 

 and the middle lobe keeled, obliquely obtuse in front — the lip 

 whitish, with the side lobes yellow at the tip, and the keel 

 with a few purplish spots beneath ; the dolabriform auricles 

 have three velvety lines between them. — Eastern Tropical 

 Asia. 



YiG.— Orchid Album, v. t. 208. 



TeiCHOPILIA, Lindley. 

 {Tribe Vandese, subtribe OncidieEe.) 



This genus contains some very handsome and distinct- 

 looking dwarf evergreen plants. They have monophyllous 

 pseudobulbs, fleshy erect leaves, and deflexed scapes springing 

 from the rhizome below the leaves, usually -one or two- 

 flowered, but sometimes producing four or five flowers, which 

 are not only curious in form but also of a showy character. 

 They have free narrow erecto-patent sepals and petals, and a 

 large lip whose claw is adnate to the column, which it closely 

 invests above, the limb being spreading, the slightly dilated 

 lateral lobes connivent, and the middle lobe continuous and 

 undulated. The anther-bed is usually ciliato-fimbriate. 

 Bentham records sixteen species as growing in Columbia, 

 Central America, and Mexico. 



Culture. — The Trichopilias are best grown in pots, with 

 peat and good drainage, and should be well elevated above the 

 rim of the pot on account of their deflexed flower scapes, 

 which proceed from the base of the bulbs. Too much water 

 at the root at any time is highly injurious to them. They 

 will do best in the Mexican house, kept as near the glass as 

 possible, so that the bulbs may become well matured, which 

 induces them to bloom more freely. They are propagated by 

 dividmg the plant. 



