EODKIGUEZIA. 



175 



petals similar to the upper sepal but broader ; lip obovate-oblong, 



emarginate with a furrowed callosity at the base, deeper in colour 



than the other segments. Column terete, short, white. 



Rodriguezia secunda, H. B. K. Nov. Gen. et Sp. I. p. 367, t. 92 (1815). Bot. 

 Reg. t. 930 (1825). Bot. Mag. t. 3524 (1836). Williams' Orch. Alb. Fill. t. 351, 

 R. laiiceolata, Lodd. Bot. Cab. t. 676 (not of Ruiz, et Pav. ). 



Comparatively few orchids have been longer known in British 



gardens or were more generally cultivated during the second quarter 



of the present century than Rodriguezia secunda, but like others 



that were popular during that period, it has receded before the 



more showy kinds since imported from the same region over which it 



is spread^ although it is still met with in many collections. It was 



originally introduced from Trinidad about the year 1818, but it had been 



discovered many years previously by Humboldt and Bonpland in the 



neighbourhood of Carthagena in northern Colombia growing on the 



trunks of Grescentia Cujete (The Calabash Tree). It was afterwards 



brought from Demerara by Capt. Bispham, of the Liverpool merchant 



service^ and cultivated by Mr. Parker of that city. The brothers 



Schomburgk during their exploration of British Guiana, 1840 — 44^ 



found it generally dispersed over the whole country ; they also noted 



a variety with darker flowers growing on the banks of the Demerara 



river and which they called sanguinea* It is also very common 



around Para in Brazil^ the Mango trees being full of it, and it is 



almost the only orchid found within the city itself.f The geographical 



range of Rodriguezia secunda is thence a very extensive one. It is 



variable in habit and colour, the latter ranging from sanguineous 



red to pale rose. 



R. venusta. 



Rhizome elongated. Leaves linear-ligulate, acute, conduplicate at the 

 base, obliquely emarginate, 6 — 9 or more inches long, produced in tufts 

 of threes and fours, between the upper pair of which the small oblong, 

 monophyllous pseudo-bulb is seated. Eacemes pendulous, 5 — 9 flowered. 

 Flowers 1| inch long, pure white with an oblong yellow blotch on the 

 lip and very fragrant ; upper sepal broadly ovate, acute, concave and 

 bent forwards ; lateral sepals narrowly oblong, connate into a boat-like 

 organ, very acute at the apex and enclosing the spur of the lip ; lip 

 clawed, broadly ohovate, with a deep sinus in the apical margin in 



* Keisen in Britisch-Guiana, III. j). 312. 

 t E. S. Raud in lit, 



