12 



CYPRIPEDIUM. 



petals of G. Argus form one of its most striking characteristics, and 

 suggested its specific name ; * these spots vary considerably in 

 number and size, and occasionally spread into the other segments, 

 especially the basal part of the upper sepah 



C. barbatum. 



Leaves narrowly oblong, or oblong-lanceolate, acute, 4 — 6 or more inches 

 long, pale dull green above, tesselated with oblong deep green spots. Scapes 

 9 — 12 inches high, one- (rarely two-) flowered. Bract small, about 

 one fourth as long as the ovary. Flowers 2 J — 3 inches across vertically; 

 upper sepal sub-orbicular, folded at the mid-vein, pointed, green at the 

 base, the remainder white, more or less stained with vinous purple ; veins 

 prominent, deep purple, the central ones green at the base ; lower 

 sepal much smaller, ovate, acute, pale green with deep green and 

 purple veins ; petals linear-oblong, spreading, slightly deflexed, with 

 ciliate margins, the superior one fringed with small blackish warts, 

 brownish green towards the base, purplish towards and at the apex ; lip 

 projecting forwards, helmet shaped, deep brownish purple, paler beneath; 

 infolded lobes purple spotted with deeper purple. Staminode horseshoe- 

 shaped, with a deep cleft in the back convex edge, and a tooth in 

 the front concave side. 



Cypripedium barbatum, Lindl. in Bot. Reg. 1841, misc. 110. Id. 1842, t. 17. Bot. 

 Mag. t. 4234. Van Houtte's Fl. des Serves, III. t. 190. Id. XVIII, t. 1879 (grandi- 

 florum). Belg. hort. XXXIII. p. 96, t. 7. 



var.— Orossii. 



Plant dwarfer and denser. Leaves paler with the deep green blotches 



more scattered. Flowers usually brighter in colour than the typical 



Cypripedium barbatum, and well distinguished by the broad often A-shaped 



band of vinous purple on the upper sepal ; by the more deflexed petals 



with fewer warts on the superior margin ; and by the differently coloured 



lip. 



C. barbatum Crossii, Hort., prior to 1865. C. Crossii, Belg. hort. XV. p. 227 

 (1865). C. barbatum Wamerianum, Warner's Set. Orch. III. t. 11 (1870). C. 

 barbatum biflorum, Hort. C. orbum, Rchb. in Gard. Chron. II. s. 3 (1887), p. 778. 



var.— Obrienii. 



As compared with the preceding, the leaves are of a paler green, with 

 fewer deep green spots that are usually very small ; the upper sepal is 

 somewhat more orbicular, the purple stain more diffused ; the petals are 

 less deflexed and of a deeper colour, as is also the lip. 

 C. barbatum Obrienii, supra. 



* The Argus of Greek mythology was a monster surnamed Panoptis, "the All-seeing," 

 because he had a hundred eyes. He was appointed by Hera (Juno) guardian of the cow, into 

 which Io had been metamorphosed, but Mercury, at the command of Jupiter, sent him to sleep 

 by the sweet notes of his flute and then cut off his head. Juno transplanted his eyes to the tail 

 of the peacock, her favourite bird. 



