CYRTOPODIUM. 37 



The generic name is derived from KvpTog, " curved/' and ttovc 

 iroSog, " a foot/' in reference to the curved foot of the cohimn. 



Cultural Note. — The compost recommended for CyrtoiDodiums is a 

 mixture of fibrous loam and some rough peat, to which some cultivators 

 add a little well-rotted cow-manure ; this should he placed on an ample 

 drainage of broken crocks. As they are heat-loving plants they should 

 be placed in the highest temperature available while in active growth, 

 but they may be removed into an intermediate temperature when the 

 season's growth is matured. Owing to their roliust habit the supply 

 of water must bo copious and constant during the growing season. 



Cyrtopodium Andersonii. 



Stems fusiform or sub-cylindric, more or less curved, 2 — 3 feet long 



and IJ inch thick, sheathed at the joints by the persistent bases of 



the fallen leaves. Leaves lanceolate, sub- acuminate with about three 



prominent nerves, 15 — 24 inches long. Scapes stoutish, erect, 3 — 5 



feet high, terete, pale fulvous green ; cauline bracts ovate, acuminate, 



sub-ventricose, 1 — 1^ inch long ; floral bracts similar, but smaller and 



more open. Panicle many-flowered; flowers about 2 inches in diameter; 



sepals and petals broadly ovate, obtuse, apiculate ; petals a little broader 



and longer, obovate, obscurely keeled behind, both sepals and petals 



chrome-yellow, sometimes more or less tinted with green towards the 



apex ; lip three-lobed, of a deeper and brighter yellow than the other 



segments, the side lobes obovate, erect, the intermediate lobe broader, 



sub-quadrate, concave, the central area regularly furrowed, the marginal 



area rugose ; between the side lobes is a raised plate densely spotted 



with red. Column short, triquetral, yellow-green sometimes stained with 



brown. 



Cyrtopodium Andersonii, R. Br. in Ait. Hort. Kew. ed. 2, vol. V. p. 216 (1813). 

 Bot. Mag. t. 1800 (1816). BoL Reg. 1841, t. 8. Lindl. Gen. et Sp. Orch. p. 188. 

 Rclib. in Walp. Ann. VI. p. 667. Cymbidium Andersonii, Rot. Repository, t. 651. 

 C. cardiocliiluni, Lindl. in Journ. Hort. Soc. IV. p. 266 (1849). Williams' Orch, 

 Alb. IV. t. 176. 



The species on which the genus was founded, and one of the iirst 



tropical orchids cultivated in this country. It was originally sent 



to Mr. Thomas Evans — a liberal patron of horticulture in the early 



part of the present century — from the island of St. Vincent, in the 



West Indies, by Mr. Alexander Anderson, after whom it is named. 



It is also found in other parts of the West Indies and on the 



neighbouring mainland. Dr. Lindley states that from the fleshy 



stems the shoemakers obtain a kind of paste or glue which they 



use for the purposes of their art.* Cyrtopodium Andersonii is 



* Bot. Reg. sub. t. 8. The application of any part of an orchid plant to any economic 

 use is so rare that the circumstance is here expressly noticed. 



