10 RESTREPIA. 



and lip very minute, })ale yelloAV, the former oblong, obtuse, tlic latter 



tongue-shaped. 



Cryptophoranthus Dayanum, Rolfe in Gard. Chron. II. s. 3 (1887), p. 693. 

 Mascicvallia Dayana, Rclib. in Gard. Chron. XIV. (1880), p. 295. Id. XXVI, (1886), 

 p. 428, icon. xyl. 



This curious plant was first brought under notice by the late Mr. 



John Day^ who acquired it at a sale of orchids at Stevens' Rooms 



in 1872, when it was offered as a new species of Restrepia ; it 



had been sent there by M. Linden, of Ghent, and had presumably 



been received from New Granada, from which country it was 



afterwards sent to us by Gustav Wallis. It flowered for the first 



time in this country in Mr. Day's collection at Tottenham in 1875. 



RESTREPIA. 



Humbt. et Kuntli, Nov. Gen. et Sp. I. p. 366, t. 94 (1815). Liudl. Gen. et Sp. Orch, 

 p. 14 (1830). Benth. et Hook. Gen. Plant. III. p. 491. 



The Restrepias form a group of small, often minute plants, 

 including about twenty species, all natives of the mountains of 

 tropical America, from Brazil to Mexico, on which they occur at a 

 considerable elevation, growing among moss on the stems of trees 

 and on rocks, but always where the climate is humid. The genus 

 is closely allied to Pleurothallis, from which there is little to 

 separate it besides its greater number of pollinia, and its one- 

 flowered peduncles. 



The essential characters of the flowers are : — 



The dorsal sepals and petals are free, thread-like, and have a small 

 gland at their apex ; the lateral sepals are much broader and are 

 coherent ; the lal^ellum is generally flat, and is articulated with the 

 base of the column, which is elongated. The pollinia are four in 

 number, and are sub-pyriform or globose. 



In their vegetation the Restrepias present much the same character- 

 istics as Pleurothallis, which need not be here repeated. 

 About ten species have at difierent times been introduced into 

 European gardens, all remarkable for the peculiar form of their 

 flowers, some of whose parts bear a fanciful resemblance iiO the 

 antennfe of certain insects. Some of the species flower several 

 times during* the year from the same growth, so that there is 

 scarcely any season in which these curious flowers may not be seen. 

 The genus is dedicated to Joseph E, Restrep, who first investigated 

 the natural history of the Antioquian Andes. 



