PERISTEEIA. 129 



popular kindsj it is one of tlie few orchidaceous plants generally 

 cultivated in the stove without being especially associated with other 

 orchids, its stately habit and curious, fragrant flowers rendering it 

 popular among amateurs who possess the needful accommodation for 

 its culture. 



Cultural Note. — Peristeria data is usually potted early in spring in a 

 compost of two-thirds well-rotted turfy loam, and one-third fibrous peat 

 with the addition of some thoroughly decomposed cow manure. Ample 

 drainage should be secured by broken crocks to about half the depth 

 of the pot, and the compost filled in above this to within an 

 inch of the rim. The pseudo-bulbs should be placed on the surface 

 of the compost which should then be covered with sphagnum moss. 

 When growth commences the plants should receive a liberal supply of 

 water which should be continued till the large new pseudo-bulbs are 

 mature ; the supply may then be diminished to so much as is 

 sufficient to prevent the pseudo-bulbs from shrinking during the winter 

 months. As much air and liglit as is safely practicable should be 

 afforded at all seasons, shading being used only during the earliest 

 stages of growth and on hot bright days to prevent the foliage being scorched. 



P. pendula. 



Pseudo-bulbs sub-conic, compressed, elongated, 4 — C inches long. 



Leaves 3 — 4 from the apex of the pseudo-bulbs, lanceolate, acute, 



12 — 15 inches long. Scapes stoutish, pendulous, 5 — 7 inches long, 



bearing a dense cluster of fragrant flowers of Avax-like texture ; 



bracts small, scale-like, brownish red. Flowers globose, 2 inches in 



diameter, French-white spotted with purple ; sepals and petals broadly 



oval-oblong, obtuse, concave on the inner side, the dorsal sepal a little 



longer than the other segments ; hypochile of lip oblong with two 



quadrate basal lobes between which are two erect fleshy plates ; epichile 



or front lobe tongue-shaped, deeply grooved along the centre, reflexed 



at the apex. Column very broad, semi-terete, concave below the stigma, 



and with two incurved oblong wings. 



Peristeria pendula, Hook, in Bot. Mag. t. 3479 (1836). Lindl. in Bot. Reg. 

 1843, misc. No. 99. llchb. in Walp. Ann. VI. p. 607. 



Originally imported fi-om Demerara by Mr. John Allcard, in whose 



stove at Stratford Green it flowered for the first time in this country 



in January, 1836. It was afterwards detected by the brothers 



Schomburgk during their exploration of British Guiana, who state 



that it is generally dispersed over the whole region^ flowering in 



November and December. Although inferior to the Dove Plant as 



a horticultural subject, it is a remarkable species worthy of a place 



in large collections. 



