THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 51 



THE ORCHIDE^ OF VICTORIA. 



Part XL 



By C. French, F.L.S., Government Botanist's Department. 



( Read lef ore the Field Naturalists^ Club of Victoria, \\th Match, 



1887.) 



: Caladenia. (R. Brown.) 

 Dorsal sepal erect or incurved over the column, usually 

 narrow, erect or spreading. Labellum erect at the base, 

 undivided or 3-lobed. Column erect or incurved, more or less 

 2-winged in the upper part. Anther erect, 2-celled. Pollen 

 masses granular, terrestrial, usually hairy, with small tubers. 

 Leaf solitary, linear-lanceolate or oblong, from within a 

 scarious sheathing scale close to the ground. Flowers solitary 

 or very few in a loose raceme, on an erect scape. 



As in Pterostylis, I have thought it better to divide the 

 species into sections, after Bentham, the first being — 



Sect, I. — Leptoceras. 



Sepals acute or rather obtuse, the dorsal one erect or 

 incurved and concave. Petals erect, linear-clavate, longer than 

 the sepals. Disk with 2 to 4 rows of calli. Labellum not 

 fringed. 



C. Menziesii. (R. Brown.) 



Stem slender, glabrous or slightly hairy, usually 6 to 9 inches 

 high. Leaf ovate-lanceolate, i to 2 inches long. Flowers i or 

 2 on long pedicels. Sepals lanceolate, acute, 4 to 5 lines long. 

 Petals much longer than the sepals, erect, linear, sometimes 

 almost filiform, but clavate towards the end, giving the flower 

 a 2-horned aspect. Labellum shorter than the sepals. Column 

 rather broadly winged. 



We commence with this pretty little plant, it being a worthy 

 representative of perhaps the finest of the genera of the 

 Victorian orchide^, the colours ranging from the faintest pink 

 to the most brilliant crimson, yellow, and blue. C. Menziesii 

 may be easily distinguished from any other Vict, sp., princi- 

 pally by its singular horned appearance, also by its colour ; the 

 pure white and chocolate purple is, in this respect at least, 

 unlike any of its Victorian congeners. In the hilly country 

 near Berwick this little plant grows to great perfection, and may 

 occasionally be found nearly a foot high. It is very "patchy," 

 and is not scattered like some of the other sp. of the 

 genus. Many years since it was to be found somewhat common 

 near Cheltenham, but it seems to be scarce now in that district. 

 To grow it well use a compost of burnt loam and sand, place a 

 number of tubers in a shallow pot or pan, and keep from the 



