ANQR^CUM. 125 



Gardens. It is near the South African species Angrcecum arcuatum, 

 to which it was at first referred by Dr. Lindley. 



A. citratum. 



Stems short, rarely exceeding 3 — 4 inches high in the orchid houses 



of this country, with six — ten ovate or ovate-oblong leaves, 3 — 5 inches 



long, and 1—1^ inch broad, acute or unequally lobed at the apex. 



Kacemes pendulous, 15 — 20 or more inches long. Flowers | inch in 



diameter, of a uniform French-white or pale straw colour, on short 



pedicels, all turned upwards and rather close set (distichous and secund) 



along the rachis ; sepals broadly obovate, obtuse ; petals elHptic-oblong, 



narrower than the sepals ; lip with a short claw and sub-orbicular, 



emarginate, flat blade ; spur slender, twice as long as the pedicel. 



Column very short and thick. 



Angraecum citratum, Thenars, Orch. lies. Afr. t. 61 (1822) Bot. Mag. t. 5624. 

 Illus. hort. XXXIII, t. 592 (1886). Williams' Orch. Alb. VII. t. 300. Lindenia 

 V. t. 238. Kidley, in Jourii. Linn. Soc. XXI. p. 481. 



Although discovered in Madagascar by the French botanist^ Du 

 Petit Thouars,* the founder of the genus, towards the end of the 

 last century and figured by him in the work quoted above, no 

 further record or notice of it is to be found till 1865, in which 

 year a plant whose origin we are now unable to trace, but 

 which, we believe, was obtained from Mr. Ellis, flowered in 

 our Chelsea Nursery, and was subsequently figured and described 

 in the Botanical Magazine. At that time Angrcecum citratum, was 

 exceedingly rare in British orchid collections, and continued to be 

 so till the opening of the Suez Canal afforded facilities for the 

 more rapid transmission of plants from Madagascar. A. citratum is 

 abundant in the neighbourhood of Tamatava on the east coast, 

 occurring on the margins of lakes and swamps, where it grows 

 chiefly on small shrubs forming the undergrowth of the forest, 

 often in dense shade, and always where the atmosphere is constantly 

 saturated with moisture. 



The specific name refers to the colour of the flowers (citron- 

 coloured), but in the glass-houses of Europe the flowers are almost 



* The story of the life of Aubert du Petit Thouars is a very singular one, but too Ion" 

 for insertion here. The primary object of his visit to the Mascarene Islands was to search 

 for the celebrated navigator La Perouse and his companions, at that time sup[)osed to be 

 lost; but owing to many accidents, on his arrival at the Isle of France (Mauritius) he 

 found himself without friends and without resources ; he accordingly applied to one of the 

 lieli planters in the island for em[il()yment, whicii he obtained, and lur winch his o-reat 

 botanical knowledge stood him in good need. lie remained on the island ten years 

 occasionally making a voyage to Madagascar and other islands. He returned to Paris in 

 1802, but the results of his botanical labours in those distant lands were not published 

 till 1822. 



