132 ACINETA. 



oblong, concave; the lateral sepals larger, oljliquely ovate, obtuse, 



connate and gibbous at the base ; petals nnicli smaller than the sepals, 



oval, almost sub-rhomboid ; lip somewhat boat-shaped, deeply three- 



lobed, the side lobes large, sub-rotund, incurved, with a projecting 



lobule on the inner side ; the intermediate lobe ovate, obtuse, witli a 



two-lobed blackish purple crest near its base. Column short and thick 



with narrow rounded wings, whitisli and })ubescent above, concave and 



s])otted with red below the stigma. 



Acineta Humboldtii, Lindl. in Bot. Reg. 1843, misc. p. 67. Van Houtte's FL 

 cles Serres, X. t. 992. A. siiperba, Rchb. in Walp. Ann. VI. p. 609.* Peristeria 

 Humboldtii, Lindl. in L'ot. Reg. 1843, t. 18. Bot. Mag. t. 4156 (fulva). Anguloa 

 superba, H. B. K. Nov. Gen. et Sp. I. p. 343, t. 93. Lindl. Gen. et Sp. Orch. 

 y. 160. 



The botanical history of this fine orchid may be thus summarised : — 



According to Dr. Lindley it was discovered by the great traveller 



Humboldt and his companion Bonpland growing on trees in the 



temperate parts of Tumbez near Zaruma in Peru (now Ecuador), and 



in a valley called Catacocha ; it was also found by them cultivated 



in a garden at Loxa at 6,000 — 7,000 feet elevation. The description 



and figure of the plant in Humboldt and Kunth's Nova Genera et 



Species Flantarum caused a desire, even in the early days of 



orchid culture, to see it in European gardens, and the surprise 



was great when Dr. Lindley announced that the plant figured in 



the Botanical Register as Peristeria Humboldtii was without doubt the 



Anguloa superba of Humboldt, in whose figure, however, the raceme 



is made to grow erect instead of pendulous. The first living plant 



seen in England was imported by Mr. Wilmore, of Oldford, near 



Birmingham^ not, however, from Ecuador, but from Porto Cabello 



in Venezuela, many hundreds of miles distant, and it flowered in 



his garden in March, 1842^ and was figured in the Botanical Register 



as Peristeria Humboldtii. Subsequently the late Professor Reichenbach 



saw or possessed specimens of this species gathered by Wagoner in 



Caracas, and by Schlim near Ocaiia ; and it is probable that the 



plants cultivated of late years originated in that region. Although 



there is nothing improbable in the same species of orchid occurring 



in localities 1,000 miles apart, it is a curious circumstance that the 



Ecuadorian origin of Acineta Humboldtii does not appear to have 



been confirmed by its re-discovery in that country. 



* Superba is the oldest specific name of this plant, but we prefer following the far more 

 convenient usage of adopting the oldest name under the right genus. Lindley, doubtless, 

 rejected superba on account of its indefinite meaning, and also from a desire to honour 

 the discoverer of this orchid, 



