supplementary to Enc. of Plants and Hort, Brit. 239 



MONOCOTYLEDONOUS PlANTS. 



CCXL. OrchidecB J Vandeae. 



2537. MAXILLA^RIA. 



ochroleiicai?. C. pale yellow r"^ CZ3 or f su.aut Pa.Y Brazil 1830? D m.v.po Bot.cab.1904 



" Latelj' introduced. It grows vigorously, and flowers during summer 



and autumn. It is not so splendid as some species of this genus, yet well 



deserves cultivation ; which is not difficult, planted in moss and vegetable 



earth, with fraginents of pot intermixed." (^Bot. Cab., March.) 



2540. ONCI'DIUM. [Bot. reg. 1569 



Harrisoni«BW»2 Lindl. Mrs. A. Harrison's j^ [Z3 or 1 o ? Y.spot Brazil Mntns. 1830. D moss.r.w 



Named " after a family more distinguished than any other for the num- 

 ber of species of orchideous plants which they have introduced, and for the 

 success with which they have cultivated them." 



" For what purpose can the world have been adorned with the orchi- 

 deous plants ? To man or animals they are scarcely ever of any known 

 use. No honjey is secreted by their flowers ; neither poison, medicine, nor 

 food is collected in the recesses of their stems ; and their very seeds seem 

 unfit for feeding even the smallest birds. We can scai'cely suppose them 

 provided for the purification of the unwholesome atmosphere of the forest 

 recesses in which they delight ; for theii' organisation is that of plants 

 whose leaves perform their vital actions too slowly to effect such a pur- 

 pose. For what, then, can they have been formed, unless to delight the 

 sense of man, to gratify his eye by theii- gay colours and fantastic forms, 

 and to show the inexhaustible fertility of that Creative Power which we 

 recognise every where in nature." 



" If this be not the object of those countless changes of form and 

 colour which the orchis tribe exhibits, we shall scarcely comprehend why, 

 in this very genus Oncidium, the lip bears at its base a collection of 

 tubercles, which are not only different in every species, but so strangely 

 varied, that 



* Eye of newt, and toe of frog ' 



are the least singular of the forms that lie cowering in the bosom of their 



petals ; the heads of unknown animals, reptiles of unheard-of figures, coils 



of snakes rising as if to dart upon the curious observer, may all be seen in 



the blossoms of the various species, whose very flowers may be likened to 



unearthly insects on the wing." In O. Harrisoni«Hz»?i " one might fancy 



they resemble a bat's head, of which the downy centre forms the forehead, 



the back tubercles the ears, the horn in front the snout, and the two 



lateral tubercles a pair of flaccid cheeks." (^Bot. Reg., March.) 



Orckidecs § Epidendrecs, 



2558. BLE^/^. 

 22754a acutipetala //oo*. acute-pet. Jf; lAl or 5 ... Pa.Ro S. Carolina 1831 ? O p.l Bot. mag. 3217 



" My kind and obliging friend, Mr. Henry Shepherd, of the Liverpool 

 Botanic Garden, has, I think, correctly considered this as distinct both 

 from B. verecunda and B. florida." (Dr. Hooker in Bot. Mag., Feb.) 



2562. BRASAVO^L^. 



Perrlnii Lindl. Mr. Perrin's ^ ES or 1 s G.W Rio Jan. 1831. D p.r.w Bot. reg. 1561 



Closely allied to B. nodosa, but " essentially distinguished byits smaller 

 flowers, the short stalk of the labellum, and the toothing of the back lobe 

 of the clinandrium. It is by no means so handsome as B. nodosa ; but, as 

 it grows very freely, it will be esteemed an acquisition by the lovers of 

 epiphytes. At the request of Mr. Harrison, it is named after Mr. Perrin, 

 his gardener, under whose skilful management the collection of epiphytes 

 at Aighburgh has arrived at a state of great perfection." {Bot. Reg., Feb.) 



For notices of Mr. Perrin's mode of propagating orchideous epiphytes, 

 see this Magazine, Yol.VII. p. 541., Vol. VIII. p. 88. 



