162 MAXILLARIA. 



Pseiulo-bulbs produced from the rhizome at intervals of about an 



inch, ovoid, compressed, smooth, about an incli long, monophyllous. 



Leaves linear, acuminate, 12 — 15 inches long, with a sunk median line 



on the face, dark green. Peduncles about 2 inches long including the 



obscurely six-furrowed ovary. Flowers 1| — 2 inches across the lateral 



sepals ; sepals ovate-lanceolate with revolute margins, dark red speckled 



with yellow ; petals similar but shorter, erect and parallel with the 



column ; lip oblong, obtuse, reflexed at the apex, concave and deep 



sanguineous red to beyond the middle, the apical area yellow with 



leopard-like red-purple spots ; plate of disk oblong, pubescent. Column 



clavate, pale yellow above, spotted with red in front. 



Maxillaria tenuifolia, Lindl. in Bot. Eeq. 1837, sub. t. 1986; and 1839, t. 8. Rchb. 

 in Walp. Ann. VI. p. 832. Eolfe in Gard. Cliron. I. s. 3 (1887), p. 702. 



SUb-var. — Burford Lodge, flowers yellow spotted with red, the spots on 

 the jietals and lip larger and deeper than those on the sepals. 



An attractive species with sedge-like foliage and richly-coloured 

 flowers that was originally discovered by Hartweg in 1837 in the 

 vicinity of Vera Cruz and sent by him to the Horticultural Society 

 of London, in whose garden at Chiswick it flowered for the first 

 time in 1839. It is the most generally cultivated of the scandent 

 Maxillarias. 



M. variabilis. i 



Ehizome ascending, covered with brown sheathing scales. Pseudo- ' 



bulbs about the size of a filbert, monophyllous. Leaves linear, variable 



in length, 2 — 4 or more inches long. Peduncles (including ovary) about \ 



1| inch long. Flowers an inch across the lateral sepals, variable in | 



colour, the form recognised as the type deep sanguineous purple ; sepals 1 



oblong, apiculate ; petals similar, reflexed at the apex ; lip oblong, obtuse, 



obscurely lobed, the side margins incurved to beyond the middle. , 



Column triquetral. | 



Maxillaria variabilis, Batem. in Bot. Eeg. sub. t. 1986 (1837). Rchb. in "Walp. j 

 Ann. VI. p. 536. M. Henchmanni, Hook, in Bot. Mag. t. 3614. M. atropurpurea, I 

 Hort, \ 



SUb-var. — hitea, flowers buff-yellow, the lip and column blotched with ] 

 deep purple. I 



A native of Mexico that was in cultivation in sevei-al European 



gardens in 1837 and perhaps earlier : it appears to have been first ; 



imported by Messrs. Low and Co. through Henchmann. It is one ', 



of the scandent Maxillarias cultivated in the Eoyal Gardens at I 



Kew, whence we derived materials for description. 



