phaljEnopsis. 25 



var.— gloriosa. 



Differs but little from the variety Dayana, except that the leaves 



are of a lighter green, the red on the front lobe of the lip more 



diffused, and its ulaw Avhite. 



P. Aphrodite gloriosa, supra. P. gloriosa, Kclib. in Gard. Chron. III. s. 3 (1888), 

 p. 554. The Garden, XXXV. (1889;, t. 697. 



This Phalaenopsis was first sent from Manila, by Oumiug, in 1837, 

 to Messrs. RoUisson — one plant only surviving the voyage — in whose 

 nursery at Tooting it flowered in the autumn of that year, and was 

 figured by Dr. Lindley in the Botanical Register, under the name of 

 Phalcenopsis amahilis, in the erroneous belief that it was the same 

 species as that upon which Blume had founded the genus thirteen 

 years previously, but which was not then in cultivation. And when 

 in 1847 the true P. amahilis, of Blume, was sent to our Exeter firm 

 by Thomas Lobb, Dr. Lindley, although recognising it as distinct 

 from the P. amahilis figured in the Botanical Register, failed to correct 

 the mistake he had fallen into respecting the Manila plant, and 

 gave the name of P. grandijlora to Lobb's introduction. Through 

 this unfortunate error, the substitution of grandijlora for the true 

 amahilis has been perpetuated to the present time, notwithstanding 

 that Reichenbach had noted and corrected it so long ago as 

 1862.* A comparison of the accompanying woodcuts of the two 

 species shows that they differ essentially in the form of the labellum, 

 and also in some minor particulars ; P. Aphrodite is further 

 distinguished from P. amahilis by the deeper glossy green of its 

 leaves, that are also purplish beneath. 



In its native home Phalcenopsis Aphrodite is spread generally over the 

 islands of Luzon, Mindoro, and the adjacent small islands ; and 

 although the inroads made upon it by collectors have resulted in 

 the removal of an immense number of plants in the aggregate, it 

 is still abundant in those localities. 



The two varieties described above, which were introduced by 

 Messrs. Low and Co., differ but little from each other ; Dayana 

 appeared many years ago in the collection of the late Mr. John Day, 

 at Tottenham ; gloriosa is a comparatively recent introduction. 



' Xeu. Orch. Orcli. 11. p. 6. The error has siuce been repeatedly pointed out by the 

 late Professor Keicheiibaeh in Gard. Chron. passim, notably in III. (1875) p. 302, sub. 

 P. iKUCorhoiia ; also by Van Houtte in V\. dos Serres, sub. P. Liiddeinanniana, t. 1636 ; 

 by Mr. Nicholson in Dictionarij »/ Ounkiiiwj, III. p. 92 ; by Mr. \\. A. KoH'e, in Gard. 

 Chron. V. .s. 3 (1889), p. 88. 



