30 GRAMMATOFHYLLUM. 



near the apex ; petals much smaller than the sepals, erect -with spreading 

 tip, oval-oblong, acute, yellow, sometimes cream colour at the base, 

 light rose-purple at the apex ; lip as long as the petals, saccate at the 

 base, three-lobed, the side lobes rotund, erect, straw-yellow or white ; 

 the intermediate lobe ovate-triangular, reflexed and yellow at the apex, 

 traversed longitudinally by several white ridges, the furrows between 

 them being reddish crimson ; between the side lobes is a narrow, three- 

 ridge white plate that projects in front above the ridges on the 

 intermediate lobe. Cohnnn terete, incurved, white, or yellow. 



Grammangis Ellisii, Rchb. Xen. Orch. II. p. 17 (1862). Benth. in Joum. 

 Linn. Soc. XVIil. p. 318 and Kidley in XXI. p. 472. Lindenia, Fill. t. 338. 

 Grammatophylhnn Ellisii, Lindley ex Hook. Bot. Mag. t. 5179 (1860). Van 

 Houtte's Fl. dcs Serves, XIV. t. 1488-89 (copied from Bot. Mag.). Rchb. in 

 Gard. Chron. X. (1878), p. 333. Id. XIV. (1880), p. 326 (Dayana). Williams' 

 Orch. Alb. IF. t. 147. Godefroy's Orchido'pMle, 1886, p. 352. 



This is one of the most distinct of orchids ; its flowers, as the 

 accompanying woodcut shows, are of peculiar shape, and in addition 

 they present a most singular and varied combination of colours 

 even for an orchid, and are, morever, very sweet scented. Its 

 discoverer, the Rev. W. Ellis, informed Dr. Lindley that he "found 

 it growing on a branch of a tree about the size of a man's leg, 

 and stretching over a river at about 25 feet above the water. The 

 roots were abundant, but short, white, fleshy and matted together, 

 a little larger than the roots of Ansellia africana." The first intro- 

 duced plants were cultivated by Mr. Ellis himself, at Hoddesdon, 

 Herts, where one of them flowered for the first time in August, 

 1859. 



Gh'ammangis Ellisii is unfortunately a refractory subject under 

 cultivation, and although frequently imported since its first intro- 

 duction, its sojourn in the orchid houses of Europe is rarely of 

 long duration. 



GRAMMATOFHYLLUM. 



Blume, Bijdr. p. 377, t. 20 (1825). Rchb. Xen. Orch. II. p. 16. Benth. et Hook. Gen. 

 Plant. III. p. 539. 



Gramraatophyllum includes four or five species dispersed over the 



Malay peninsula and archipelago. The species are more remarkable 



for the gigantic dimensions they attain — especially the typical species, 



Grammatophyllum speciosum — than for the attractiveness of their 



flowers, which are generally of a sombre hue. On account of the 



amount of space they take up, and the high temperature they 



require, they are cultivated in but few private collections. 



