ANGR^CUM. 131 



The chief interest attached to the plant will be gathered from the 



following extract : — 



" The leaves of Angneeum fragrans are imported from Mauritius, and 

 in a dry state have an odour which much resembles vanilla ; it is 

 sufficient to touch the fresh leaves for the fingers to remain impregnated 

 with their aroma. In Mauritius, and even in France, a very agreeable 

 tea is prepared from the leaves, which is used as a digestive, and 

 even recommended in diseases of the respiratory organs. Mixed with 

 ordinary tea they impart to it an extremely agreeable perfume." * 



A. fuscatum. 



Stem short, not exceeding a few inches high in the cultivated plants. 



Leaves oblong-cuneate, 4 — 5 inches long, obtuse or unequally bi-lobed 



at the apex. Eacemes flaccid and sub-pendulous, longer than the leaves, 



many flowered, the racliis russet-brown tinged with green, the pedicels 



springing from a cushion-like out-growth as in Angneeum Ellisii, and 



sheathed at the base by a small triangular bract. Flowers 1 — 1| inches in 



diameter, cream-white ; sepals and petals similar and sub-equal, lanceolate, 



acute ; lip broader than the other segments, oblong to beyond the 



middle, and then somewhat suddenly acuminate ; spur slender, about 



three times as long as the stalked ovaries. 



Angrsecum fuscatum, Rchb. in Gard. Chron. XVIII. (1882), p. 488. Kegel's 

 Gartenflora, 1886, p. 589, t. 1234. Rev. liort. 1887, p. 235, fig. 49. 



Introduced by Messrs. Low and Co., from Madagascar, in or 



before 1882, in the autumn of which year it flowered in several 



collections, both British and continental. It is very near Angneeum 



Ellisii, from v^hich it can scarcely be distinguished except by its 



smaller size, its more flaccid and brownish peduncles, and its smaller 



flowers, with a much shorter and more slender spur; it also 



approaches very closely A. articulatum, but is a little 'Marger in 



all its parts." More definite characters are wanting to distinguish 



it specifically from either species, between which it is intermediate. 



A. Germinyanum. 



Stem slender, scandent, 12 —18 inches high under cultivation, leafy 

 along the upper part. Leaves linear-oblong, 2 — 3 inches long, sessile, 

 unequally bi-lobed at apex. Flowers solitary, on slender green pedicels 

 produced from opposite a leaf about half-way up the stem, pure white ; 

 sepals linear, 2| — 3 inches long, from a narrowly lanceolate base ; petals 

 similar, but shorter and more slender ; lip quadrate with rounded angles, 

 shell-hke, suddenly contracted in the middle into a filiform, reflexed tail, 



* M. Gobley in Chemical Qa-.ette ex Gard. Chron. 1850, p. 599. 



