MILTONIA. 95 



Native of the Cordillera of Venezuela, in the province of Caracas, 

 where it was discovered, probably by Moritz, in 1847, and whence it 

 has been sent to Europe, dried or living, by various collectors. It 

 flowered for the first time in England in Mr. Bull's nursery at Chelsea, 

 in September, 1872. The species is readily distinguished by its long, 

 creeping rhizome, move marked in this respect than any other Oncid 

 known to usj also by its white zebra-striped flowers, which much 

 resemble those of an Odontoglossum. 



MILTONIA. 



Lindl. in Bot. Reg. sub. t. 1976 and t. 1992 (1837). Id. Fol. Orch. 1853. Benth. et Hook. 

 Gen. Plant. III. p. 563 (1883). 



Miltonia is one of the comparatively few genera of orchidaceous 

 plants of which the whole of the included species are more or less 

 worthy of cultivation, and it is here accordingly monographed in its 

 entirety. In addition to the handsome species long cultivated in 

 gardens as MUtonias, a group of orchids whose flowers are of exceptional 

 beauty are now included in the genus, but which have hitherto been 

 generally known as Odontoglossums; these, however, conform so much 

 more closely to the generic characters of Miltonia than to those of 

 Odontoglossum that they are unhesitatingly referred to the former 

 genus by botanists, and accepted as such by many horticulturists. 

 The genus Miltonia, in this enlarged sense, is on the whole a natural 

 one that may be conveniently retained both in scientific classification 

 and for garden use, although there are difficulties in technically defining 

 its limits.* 



The relationship subsisting between Miltonia, Odontoglossum and 

 Oncidium has been already noticed in the introductory notes to the 

 synopsis of those genera, but in treating of Miltonia we are brought 

 into contact with another genus, Brassia, which although sepai^ated 

 from Miltonia by fairly well-expressed characters, and the included 

 species of which are usually recognised by horticulturists by the very 

 distinct aspect of their inflorescence, nevertheless follows so closely 



* Reichenbach monographed Miltonia, as far as it was then known, in his Xcnia Orchidacea, 

 vol. I. p. 128, published in 1855, but removed the whole of the species, together with those of 

 Brassia, to Oncidium, wiieu compiling his Synopsis of the OrchideiB for Walper's Annalcs 

 Botanices, vol. VI. published in 1863, placing both series between Lindley's sub-sections 

 IntegrUabia and Pulvinata. 



