SllttOPStB. 71 



EEIOPSIS. 



Lindl. in 15ot. Reg. 1847, sub. t. 9. Benth. et Hook. Gen. Plant. III. p. 545. 

 A South American genus, including three or four species, of 

 which the two described below are the best known. The colour 

 of the flowers of these two species, especially of Eriopsis Ridulohulhon, 

 is peculiar, and together with their habit, easily distinguishes them 

 from almost every other orchid in cultivation. The essentially 

 distinguishing characters of the genus are, however, the peculiar 

 lamellge of the lip and the almost quadrangular gland of the 

 pollinary apparatus. 



Cultural Note. — Both Eriop&is hiloha and E. Rutidobulhon occur at 

 a considerable elevation on the Cordilleras of South America, and may 

 therefore receive cultural treatment similar to that of other orchids from 

 the same region. They may be grown in the cool house, or better in 

 the coolest part of the Cattleya house during the summer near the 

 glass ; but it is advisable to keep them in the intermediate house 

 during the winter months, as in that case they are in an equable 

 temperature the whole year which the climate of their native home 

 suggests. 



Eriopsis biloba. 



Pseudo-bulbs clustered, ovate-conic, elongated, 2- -3 inches long. (Leaves 

 not seen). Scapes radical, 20 — 25 inches long, dull purple mottled 

 with green, racemose along the distal half, many-flowered ; bracts scale- 

 like, minute. Flowers 1^ inch in diameter ; sepals and petals similar 

 and sub-equal, narrowly oblong, obtuse, the sepals tawny yellow bordered 

 with red-brown, the petals darker with more brown ; lip concave, 

 transversely roundish oblong with an obcordate lobule at the apex and 

 a sub-quadrate fleshy plate at the base traversed by two raised lines 

 Avhich terminate in front in two teeth ; the blade tawny yellow 

 densely dotted with purple. Column clavate, light green. 



Eriopsis biloba, Lindl. in Bot. Reg. 1847, sub. t. 9. and t. 18. Rchb. in Walp. 

 Ann. VI. p. 662. E. Schomburgkii, Rchb. in Bonpl. III. p. 67 (1855), 



When Dr. Lindley founded the genus on this species nothing 



was known of its origin ; the specimen was sent to him by 



Mr. J. Blandy, of Reading, who had acquired the orchid collection 



of Mr. George Barker, of Birmingham, shortly after that gentleman's 



decease in 1845, and among which were many rare species, some 



of them undetermined at the time. From that time to the present 



Eriopsis hiloba has received but little attention from cultivators, and 



scarcely anything is recorded respecting it. Its geographical range 



