2i BLETiA. 



lobe spreading, .s\ib-(|ua(li'ate with denticulate margin, and traversed 



longitudinally by live raised lines that extend to the base of the lip, 



deep purple. Column semi-terete with two narrow wings, purple above, 



whitish below. 



Bletia liyacinthiiia, K. Br. in Ait. Hort. Kew^ ed. 2, vol. V. p. 206 (1810—13). 

 Lindl. Gen. et Sp. Orch. ji. 120. Blunie, Orch. Arch. Ind. t. 6, fig. 1. Kegel's 

 Gartenfi. XIII. t. 527 (var. albo-stricta). The Garden, XVI. (1879), t. 205. 

 Bletilla stricta, Rchb. in Bot. Zeit. 1878, p. 75. Bletia Gebina, Bot. Reg. 1847, t. 

 60. Cymbidium hyacinthinnm, Bot. Mag. t. 1492. And many others. 



First introduced from China in 1803, by Mr. Evans, of the East 

 India House ; it also occurs wild in various parts of Kiusiu 

 and Nippon in Japan. It is a somewhat variable plant, both in 

 its foliage and in the colour of its flowers. Among the most 

 noteworthy forms that have been in cultivation are : — alho-striata, 

 which has the leaves elegantly striped with white, and was intro- 

 duced by Siebold from Japan. Gehina, introduced by Messrs. 

 Loddiges and figured and described by Lindley as a distinct species, 

 has nearly white flowers with a faint tinge of blush. Another form 

 in Sir Trevor Lawrence's collection at Burford Lodge, not specially 

 named, has deep amethyst-purple flowers. 



B. Shepherdii. 



Pseudo-bulbs roundish, about 2 inches in diameter. Leaves broadly 

 lanceolate, tapering at both extremities, 15 — 20 inches long, deciduous. 

 Scapes longer than the leaves, branched, many flowered. Flowers 1| 

 inches in diameter, of a uniform deep purple with the lamellae of the 

 lip Avhite ; sepals oblong, acute ; petals broader, undulate ; lip broadly 

 cuneate, the front lobe strongly undidated, the disk with 5 — 7 wavy 

 lamellae. Pollinia eight. 



Bletia Shepherdii, Hook. Bot. Mag. t. 3319 (1834). Paxt. Mag. Bot. II. p. 146. 

 Introduced by the Messrs. Shepherd, of Liverpool, in the early 

 part of the present century from Jamaica, of which island it is a 

 native. It is the richest coloured Bletia known to us; it is still 

 occasionally seen in cultivation. 



B. Sherrattiana. 



" Pseudo-bulbs flattened, about 2 inches across. Leaves three or four, 

 plicate, acuminate at either end, raised upon an upright stalk, includ- 

 ing which they are nearly a yard long. Flowers of delicate texture, 

 a dozen or more in a somewhat dense terminal raceme, bright rose 

 colour ; sepals oblong-lanceolate, obtuse, ; petals twice as broad, roimded ; 

 lip longer than the petals, deeply three lobed, the lateral lobes rounded, 

 spreading, larger than the intermediate one, which is kidney shaped, 



